[4] CMA CGM business activities include shipping, port operation, supply chain management and warehousing, with a presence in 160 countries through 400 offices, 750 warehouses, 155,000 employees and a wide fleet of 593 vessels.

Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM) operated as such from 1974 to 1996 when it was privatized by the French state under President Chirac and Prime Minister Alain Juppé.

After the merger and re-structure, CGM's liner services were managed in four distinct Trade Divisions, North America & Far East (AMNEO, for Amérique du Nord & Extrême Orient) which also managed the bulk and tanker fleets, South America & Caribbean (AMLAT), Pacific & Indian Ocean (PACOI) and Short Sea Trades (Cabotage).

[11] In September 2005, CMA CGM acquired its French rival Delmas based in Le Havre from the Bolloré Group for €600 million.

In April 2015, the group acquired a strategic stake in LCL Logistix, a logistics leader in India, via its subsidiary CMA CGM LOG.

[17][18] In June 2017, CMA CGM acquire Mercosul Line, a Brazilian shipping company specialized in multimodal door-to-door container transportation and logistics.

However, this partnership, implemented in April 2023,[29] was terminated by mutual agreement in January 2024 without change in the 9% stake acquired by CMA CGM in the Franco-Dutch airline group.

Some emblematic group's vessels are: On April 4, 2008, pirates seized the CMA CGM luxury cruise ship Le Ponant off the coast of Somalia.

[53] On 4 May 2017, the container ship CMA CGM Centaurus made heavy contact with the quay and two shore cranes while under pilotage during its arrival at Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates.

[54] On 20 January 2018, the container ship CMA CGM Washington was on-route to Los Angeles, US, from Xiamen, China, when it experienced heavy waves in the North Pacific Ocean.

The vessel was en route to Nhava Sheva, India, after departing Singapore and was navigating the Malacca Straits, some 100km north-west of Port Klang, when the fire was discovered at about noon, local time.

The ship, which left Singapore on June 26, stopped on July 9 in Djibouti "to clear some damaged containers on deck before safely continuing its voyage.

"[59] On 25 November 2023, US defense officials reported that the ship was targeted in a suspected Iranian drone attack while in the Indian Ocean, en route from Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates to Port Klang, Malaysia.