CMA CGM Group, a Marseille-based shipping conglomerate, said it will acquire container terminal Fenix Marine Services at the Port of Los Angles.
The deal, valued at $2.3 billion, marks Fenix Marine’s return to the CMA CGM fold — the terminal started operating in 1997 as Eagle Marine Services, a CMA CGM subsidiary. 

Sweden-based EQT Infrastructure acquired a 90% stake in the business from CMA CGM for $875 million in 2017, with the shipping line retaining a long-term use agreement with the terminal. EQT changed the terminal’s name to Fenix Marine Services and partnered with Arizona-based P5 Infrastructure to run it.

“The swift recovery of the global economy has demonstrated the importance of ports and logistics infrastructure,” CMA CGM’s chairman and Chief Executive Rodolphe Saadé said in a statement. “In order to manage efficiently our port operations on the West Coast of the United States, we have decided to acquire Fenix Marine Services. Fenix Marine Services is one of the largest terminals in this country and one of its most strategic gateways. It is a key industrial facility which will significantly strengthen our position and support our rapid growth in this market.”

Fenix Marine is one of the largest terminals in the San Pedro Bay complex. It handles more than 2.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units each year, accounting for roughly 20% of cargo going through the Port of Los Angles. Nearly all ships docking at its four berths are part of trans-Pacific trade and carry cargo to East and Southeast Asia.

CMA CGM Group said it plans to accelerate Fenix Marine's development “with significant investment in the coming years,” which will include extension of the container yard to increase the terminal’s capacity, expansion of the terminal’s rail capacity and construction of a new berth.