French bid for carrier

France's Compagnie Maritime D'Affretement (CMA) has joined forces with the Groupe Louis Dryfus Armateurs and Tristan Vieljeux to put forward a bid for Compagnie Generale Maritime-Asia (CGM).

CMA, which will control 90 per cent of CGM's global activities when the takeover is completed, will form a new company, CGM/CMA, to provide the two companies' services.

The new line will rank number four among European maritime container carriers and number 14 worldwide, based on the potential of the two carriers.