World Oceans Day: CMA CGM continues with its commitment to restoring coral reefs

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Jun 08, 2022, 09:01 ET

The CMA CGM Group is continuing with its worldwide Reef Recovery program.
Five coral nurseries in Australia, Florida, the Philippines and the Seychelles.
CMA CGM, committed to the environment and our oceans.

MARSEILLE, France, June 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The CMA CGM Group, a global player in sea, land, air and logistics solutions, recognizes the global importance and urgency of healthy oceans and is committed to continuing with its efforts to ensure that our oceans are used sustainably, as well as ensuring that shipping services are ever more respectful of the environment.

Committed to protecting the oceans
This involvement of the CMA CGM Group is reflected in particular by the Reef Recovery program to restore coral reefs. These reefs are home to 25% of marine biodiversity and make up 0.2% of the ocean surface, with 2 to 4 million species including 6,000 species of marine fish.

Aware of the importance of these corals' ecosystems, the CMA CGM Group launched this initiative in late 2020, with an initial nursery along the Great Barrier Reef in Australia with ANL, the Group's expert shipping subsidiary in Oceania. The project has been made possible thanks to the work of the Group along with its partner, NGO Reef Restoration Foundation (RRF), which has already allowed for more than 1,000 coral plants to be planted.

Five coral nurseries in Australia, Florida, the Philippines and the Seychelles
This coral protection program was gradually extended in 2021, mainly to the Philippines and Malaysia, to protect and regenerate 6,000 km² within the Coral Triangle with non-profit organization Endangered Species International, of which CMA CGM is a partner in this region.

Its efforts have also been extended to the Seychelles in partnership with Nature Seychelles, an NGO dedicated to environmental conservation, by taking part in one of the world's most important coral restoration programs, thanks to the introduction of coral nurseries.

Very recently, the Group joined forces with Reef Renewal Foundation International (RRFI), an NGO that develops coral restoration projects around the world. Together, CMA CGM and RRFI are continuing with these regeneration projects in the Molasses Reef off Key Largo, the most visited reef in Florida and one of the most famous scuba diving sites in the United States.

In Australia, via its subsidiary ANL, the Group is continuing its collaboration with RRF and getting ready to launch a second nursery in Moore Reef thanks to the involvement of five of its clients: Coles Supermarkets, Costa Group, Kalgin Logistics, Gilmac and Gori.

CMA CGM, committed to the environment
With this worldwide coral reef restoration program, the CMA CGM Group is continuing to support sustainable use of the oceans and respect of ecosystems by means of a number of major projects, in keeping with its sustainable development strategy, and has launched initiatives to help to protect biodiversity and nature:

Ending transportation of plastic waste on all the Group's vessels worldwide as of June 1, 2022: a pioneering decision in the shipping industry to protect the oceans and biodiversity.
The CMA CGM Group decided in 2019 that none of its ships would use the Northern Sea Route in order to protect the Arctic and its biodiversity.
Partnership with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to improve understanding of right whales on the east coast of the United States. Thanks to funding from CMA CGM, WHOI researchers have deployed two passive acoustic monitoring buoys off the coasts of Norfolk (Virginia) and Savannah (Georgia).
Limiting vessel speed: within cetacean and marine mammal breeding areas, CMA CGM vessels reduce their speed to 10 knots in order to prevent the risk of collision.
"Green ships" program on board all ships owned by the Group to sort waste on board and then recycle it on land.
Inspections of ship hulls using underwater drones lower carbon dioxide emissions by detecting encrustations of shellfish on the hull, which limit hydrodynamic performance.
The CMA CGM Group equips its vessels with an innovative ballast water treatment system using UV light; this system allows it to eliminate any exogenous living organisms with no major impact on local biodiversity and without any use of chemical products.
CMA CGM is part of the Ocean & Climate Platform, spearheaded by the UN within the framework of the Group's belonging to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). The platform helps to promote targets and best practices to support sustainable development of the oceans.
The CMA CGM Group has set itself the target of achieving Net Zero Carbon in 2050, primarily by developing the use of fuel alternatives. At present, the CMA CGM Group has 29 e-methane ready vessels currently powered by LNG, which is the best industrial tool for protecting air quality and which eliminates 99% of sulfur oxides, 91% of fine particles and 92% of nitrogen oxide emissions, exceeding existing regulations. Using LNG gets rid of sulfur emissions, which acidify the oceans, affecting coral and marine biodiversity.

Claire Martin, Vice President Sustainability at the CMA CGM Group, comments: "The oceans are an essential place for the health and equilibrium of the planet and its inhabitants. The CMA CGM Group and all its crewmembers, operating a fleet of vessels on all of the world's seas, are strongly committed to protecting these valuable marine ecosystems in order to combat climate change and loss of biodiversity. That is why the Group acts daily to measure and limit its impact and works alongside scientists and NGOs to make its contribution to protecting and regenerating our oceans. We will attend the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon at the end of the month to pass on these messages and set out the concrete measures being taken by the CMA CGM Group."

About CMA CGM
Led by Rodolphe Saadé, the CMA CGM Group, a global player in sea, land, air and logistics solutions, serves more than 420 ports around the world across 5 continents, with a fleet of 580 vessels. The Group transported 22 million TEU containers (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2021. With its subsidiary CEVA Logistics, a global logistics player which transported 474,000 tons of air cargo and more than 21 million tons of inland freight, and its air cargo division CMA CGM AIR CARGO, the CMA CGM Group is constantly innovating to provide customers a comprehensive and increasingly efficient offering, thanks to new shipping, inland, air freight and logistics solutions.
Firmly committed to the energy transition in shipping and a pioneer in its use of alternative fuels, the CMA CGM Group has set a Net Zero-Carbon target for 2050.
Each year, via the CMA CGM Foundation, the Group supports thousands of children as part of its efforts to promote education for all and equal opportunities. The CMA CGM Foundation also intervenes in humanitarian crises requiring an emergency response by calling on the Group's shipping and logistics expertise to deliver humanitarian supplies around the world.
Present in 160 countries through its network of more than 400 offices and 750 warehouses, the Group employs 150,000 people worldwide, including 2,900 in Marseille where its head office is located.
cmacgm-group.com

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