CMA CGM in talks with US shipyards, CEO tells Les Echos

PARIS (Reuters) - CMA CGM is in talks with shipyards about the possibility of having medium-sized container vessels built in the United States, the French shipping group's CEO Rodolphe Saade told Les Echos newspaper.

"We are in talks with several shipyards to see how long it would take and at what cost," he said in an interview published on Friday, a day after he unveiled with U.S. President Donald Trump a plan to invest $20 billion in the United States.

"From there, we'll see if we go ahead or not. What is interesting is to have this possibility."

CMA CGM is looking at the scope for vessels with a capacity of 6,000 containers, larger than ships currently built at U.S. shipyards though smaller than the giant-sized 24,000-container vessels now on the market, he added.

CMA CGM is the world's third-largest container line.

Saade had said at the White House he was looking at supporting the building of container ships in the country and would make an announcement "in the coming weeks".

Any announcement of U.S. ship orders would be in addition to the $20 billion investment over four years outlined on Thursday, CMA CGM said.

CMA CGM's investment package, which compares with $12 billion it invested in the United States in the past five years, comes as the industry is bracing for possible U.S. port fees on China-linked vessels.

Saade, whose firm like others has a large portion of Chinese-built vessels in its fleet and is also in a vessel-sharing alliance with China's COSCO, told Les Echos he had not discussed the port levy issue with Trump.

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Louise Heavens)

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