In 1855, the Compagnie Générale Maritime was created.
In 1861, the Compagnie Générale Maritime changed its name to the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique.
In 1969, the Compagnie générale transméditerranéenne (CGTM) was created by joining the Mediterranean services of the Compagnie générale transatlantique with the Compagnie de navigation mixte.
In 1976, the CGTM came under state control and changed its name to SNCM. The state ownership was managed 75% by the Compagnie générale maritime (CGM) and 25% by the
SNCF, the latter influencing the new name.
2005 privatization
In September 2005, French Prime minister
Dominique de Villepin presented a project of
privatization of the company. Villepin was to hand out the SNCM to
Butler Capital Partners for 35 million euros, after a previous "recapitalisation" of 113 million euros (injection of new capital by the state). However, this project caused a public outcry, as it put into question the
balancing out principle of
public transports (péréquation), meaning that to insure the continuity of the national territory and the
equality of all concerning this important territorial continuity. In other words, the
state-owned SNCM was to insure transport between the mainland and Corsica all year long, even though in exclusive market terms it may not be
profitable, so that Corsicans can access administrative services as well as any other Frenchman. Moreover,
Walter Butler was Villepin's schoolmate and friend from l'
ENA, the elite public servants school.
Following hard negotiations and a strike by the
CGT trade-union and the
Corsican Workers' Trade Union (STC), a new project was presented. In May 2006, the company was privatized. Connex (which has since become
Veolia Transport, a subsidiary of
Veolia Environment group) took 28% of the SNCM (against 38% for Butler in the previous arrangement); the state kept 25% of the shares, and 9% sold to the employees. 400
layoffs were planned; in addition to the 113 million euros reinjected by the state before the privatization, 35 million euros were to be given to finance the layoffs.
In 2008, Butler sold its shares to Veolia, who became the main shareholder with 66% of shares.[1] In 2011, the shares were passed on to
Veolia Transdev (now simply Transdev), after Veolia merged with
Transdev (historic).
The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2014 and was subsequently placed in receivership of the court of Marseilles.[2]
Former Fleet
Sidi Bel Abbes (1949-1963) Scrapped in
Alang,
India in 1988.