Trump wants to revive the shipping industry, but billions of investments have not yet come

President Donald Trump seemed pleased when the CEO of a French logistics giant came to the White House nearly a year ago to announce a major investment in U.S. ports and shipping.

“He’s going to invest $20 billion in the United States because of the election,” Trump said last March.

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CMA CGM, a family company based in Marseille, France, is little known in the United States. As the third largest shipping company in the world, it plays a crucial role in global supply chains and earns billions in revenue. But since the announcement last year, only a fraction of the promised resources have reached the country.

“So far, CMA CGM has given little sign that it will deliver on its promise to invest $20 billion in the U.S. maritime sector,” said James Lightbourn, founder of marine finance consultancy Cavalier Shipping.

Several companies have made commitments to invest in the United States since Trump began his second term, and it is not yet known how many will fulfill their promises. But the weakened American shipping industry urgently needs major contributions, and an injection of resources would help Trump achieve his goal of strengthening the sector to face China’s rise as a power in commercial shipping.

In an executive order issued in April, Trump called for a maritime action plan and other measures to support the sector. “We are going to spend a lot of money on shipbuilding,” he said when announcing the measure. “We are way, way, way behind.”

But the plan is months behind schedule, and Congress has yet to move forward with bipartisan legislation that would create more subsidies that many say are needed to attract new investment.

Hanwha, a South Korean conglomerate, said it plans to build more vessels at the Philadelphia shipyard it purchased during the Biden administration. In August, it announced that it planned to invest US$5 billion in expanding the shipyard.

CMA CGM’s $20 billion promise drew attention due to its size. Shipping rivals, such as Maersk and MSC, have not made billion-dollar investment promises in the last year. CMA CGM said in its March announcement that it intended to make the investments over four years, so there is still time to reach the $20 billion target.

A Maersk spokesperson said North America was a “critical market” for the company and that it would continue to expand its operations in the United States. MSC did not respond to requests for comment.

At the White House in March, CMA CGM CEO Rodolphe Saadé said the company planned to invest in US-made container ships, adding that it would present details “in the coming weeks.”

But CMA CGM has not announced any orders to American shipyards. And the costs of shipping in the United States — building a commercial vessel in the country can be up to five times more expensive than in Asia — have been a discouraging factor.

CMA CGM considered ordering U.S.-made container ships last year but concluded the price made the purchase unviable, according to a person familiar with the company’s operations.

Three container ships under construction at Hanwha’s Philadelphia shipyard, ordered before Hanwha bought the yard, are costing $330 million each. At an Asian shipyard, similar vessels would cost a maximum of $75 million, Lightbourn said.

CMA CGM also did little to fulfill another commitment: placing about 20 additional vessels under the American maritime flag, a move that would create jobs for dozens of U.S. sailors.

Since March, the company has added just one American-flagged ship to its fleet. The high costs of operating U.S.-flagged ships have prevented CMA CGM from adding more vessels to its fleet, said the person familiar with the company’s operations.

Sailors in the United States receive higher salaries than those in other countries, and boat insurance is more expensive. Government subsidies help shipping companies avoid large losses on ships currently operating under the American flag, but subsidy programs are limited.

Colin Grabow, associate director of the Cato Institute, a research organization that advocates for less government regulation of business, said he immediately had doubts about CMA CGM’s plan to add about 20 vessels to its U.S.-flagged fleet.

“I was thinking, ‘How are you going to make money? Presumably you’re a profit-oriented company, so what’s the economic logic of that?'” Grabow said.

Part of CMA CGM’s investment program is focused on ports, which are much more likely to generate robust returns than buying ships in the U.S. and hiring sailors.

In a note to The New York Times, CMA CGM stated that it had “allocated” around US$1 billion to expand the capacity of its terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey, as well as the Port of Los Angeles.

CMA CGM also informed that a joint venture it was structuring with Stonepeak, an American investment company, intended to make new contributions to ports in the United States and other countries.

“This partnership is fully compatible with CMA CGM’s $20 billion commitment to the United States and supports our long-term, phased investments in ports, logistics, shipping and air cargo,” the company said. “The partnership will support up to $3.6 billion in future investments in terminal development around the world, with a special focus on the United States.”

Still, CMA CGM did not mention new projects in the United States planned by the joint venture and, upon closing the deal, in practice reduced its stake in American ports and others, by selling a 25% slice of these assets to Stonepeak.

“This looks like an asset sale to free up capital for other purposes, but also to create a future investment vehicle that doesn’t need to be 100% funded with capital from CMA CGM itself,” said Matt Leech, CEO of Ports America, a major port operator.

Saadé and his family hold the majority of the capital of CMA CGM, founded by his father, Jacques, in 1978, with a single ship that sailed between Beirut, Lebanon, and Marseille. He made the investment pledge shortly after the Trump administration said it was considering imposing punitive tariffs on vessels built and owned by Chinese companies.

CMA CGM has 281 ships manufactured in China, according to Alphaliner, a maritime data company, and is part of an alliance with Cosco, a Chinese state-owned shipping company. (Trump imposed the tariffs but later suspended them for a year as part of his trade truce with China.)

CMA CGM had already been investing in the United States before Trump’s second term. In 2021, it acquired its terminal at the Port of Los Angeles in a US$2 billion deal. It also purchased two terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey in 2023, saying it would invest in both.

The company now expects to invest about $500 million to expand capacity at its Los Angeles terminal, according to the person familiar with its operations.

Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said it was a “very necessary and significant” project.

A spokesperson for the Port of New York and New Jersey said CMA CGM has begun a $486 million investment in its terminal in Bayonne, New Jersey. Bethann Rooney, port director, said CMA CGM has been “an enthusiastic and collaborative partner.”

The White House releases its own survey of investment promises, which includes the $20 billion from CMA CGM.

“President Trump used his diplomatic skills to secure trillions of dollars in investment in our country that will bring back industrial production and create jobs for Americans,” said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. “The president expects all partners to fulfill their commitments.”