Abu Dhabi Ports Group announced a shareholders’ agreement for a joint venture with France’s CMA CGM under which the Emirati group will acquire a 20 percent stake in Syria’s Lattakia Container Terminal for 81 million UAE dirhams, about 22 million U.S. dollars.

Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports Group, said at the signing in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, 6 November, “We are pleased today to expand our cooperation with our strategic partner, CMA CGM.” He added that the agreement reflects international cooperation with key partners and helps consolidate Abu Dhabi Ports Group’s role as a leading global enabler of trade, industry, and logistics services.

On 5 February, the General Authority for Land and Maritime Border Terminals announced a new contract with CMA CGM, the terminal operator at the Port of Lattakia, noting that previous accounts between the Syrian side and the French company had been settled and a new contract concluded under updated terms and mechanisms.

CMA CGM renewed its contract with the former regime in October 2024 for 30 years, according to earlier remarks by Karam Shaar, program director for Syria at the Observatory of Political and Economic Networks, to Enab Baladi.

CMA CGM has operated the container terminal since 2009, during the rule of deposed president Bashar al-Assad, under a contract that has been renewed several times.

The agreement was signed in Abu Dhabi in the presence of Abu Dhabi Ports Group’s Managing Director and CEO, Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, and CMA CGM Chairman and CEO, Rodolphe Saadé. Both sides underlined the partnership’s importance for advancing development at the Port of Lattakia.

Lattakia Container Terminal is Syria’s main maritime gateway, handling more than 95 percent of the country’s containerized imports and exports, including agricultural and industrial goods, and serving trade flows linked to Syrian and regional markets in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Al Shamisi said the deal builds on existing partnership ties between the two parties, adding that cooperation with CMA CGM broadens Abu Dhabi Ports Group’s global footprint and strengthens its role in enabling trade and logistics networks.

Under the agreement, the new partnership will implement comprehensive development plans for the terminal, including infrastructure upgrades, digital systems enhancements, and improved operational efficiency, to reinforce the Port of Lattakia’s position as a pivotal gateway for trade in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean and support sustainable economic growth.

On 1 May, the Syrian government signed a 30-year contract with the French company to manage and upgrade the Mediterranean port, including infrastructure work to allow larger vessels that previously could not call at the terminal.

What is CMA CGM?

CMA CGM first appeared in 1978 as Compagnie Maritime d’Affrètement with four employees, one vessel, and a single service between Beirut, Lattakia, Livorno, and Marseille. The company expanded over subsequent decades by acquiring state-owned and private shipping firms across continents and is now the world’s third-largest container carrier.

The company’s founder, Jacques Saadé, has roots in Lattakia (on Syria’s Mediterranean coast) and held French and Lebanese nationalities. He came from a bourgeois family, moved to Lebanon in 1970 following nationalization measures in Syria, and later relocated to France during the Lebanese civil war.

Saadé died on 24 June 2018 at the age of 81. His son Rodolphe became CEO in 2017.

According to a September 2024 investigation by Radio France, Jacques and Rodolphe Saadé cultivated ties with French politicians, including presidents François Hollande, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Emmanuel Macron. Jacques began investing in Lattakia after accompanying Sarkozy on a visit to Syria in 2008, while Rodolphe secured investments in the ports of Beirut and Tripoli after accompanying President Macron to Lebanon in August 2020 following the Beirut port explosion.

The family’s investments in Syria did not extend beyond the Port of Lattakia. In Lebanon, however, they grew into a near economic empire across sectors, most prominently ports in Tripoli and Beirut.