TWO investment funds are understood to be considering responding to the invitation, launched by CMA CGM chairman Jacques Saadé last week, to invest in the struggling container line operator, writes Andrew Spurrier in Paris.

US private equity fund Apollo Management and Paris-based Butler Capital Partners have both asked for information about the financial situation of the beleaguered shipping group, according to the Bloomberg news agency. Bloomberg said that the information had come from sources close to the current confidential talks between CMA CGM and its banks over the restructuring of the shipping group’s $5.6bn debt.

The two funds may have been in the mind of Mr Saadé when he told French business magazine Expansion last week that the group was looking for funds ready to invest $300m-$400m over a period of five to seven years.

Read full article at LLoyd's List website.

Shipper lobby group The Shippers’ Voice has hit out at shipping lines being granted state aid, claiming it sends out the wrong message to the industry.

MD of The Shippers’ Voice Andrew Trail said that shipping lines were facing problems because vessel owners had purchased too many ships in the past.

He said: “It wasn’t that long ago that such people were making obscene amounts of money! It was the prospect of huge returns on investment that fed the frenzy of new ship orders, not a careful consideration of what the market needed."

Read full article at Ifw website

‘CAP and trade’ is the only way to guarantee an overall reduction in CO2 emissions from the shipping industry, according to a new industry discussion paper launched today.

The paper lays out a clear set of options for a viable system that could be applied to all vessels of all flags and monitored through the International Maritime Organization.

Its supporters argue that a global emissions trading system for shipping would force operators to pay more attention to efficient voyage-planning and management of their fleets, as well as investment in modern tonnage, because lower emissions would be financially rewarded.

It would also promote change by supporting innovation and technological development.

Read full article at Politics.co.uk website