At the Rencontres Économiques d’Aix-en-Provence (Aix-en-Provence Economic Forum), Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin, co-principal investigator at the GVCdtLab, attended the presentation by Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group, a global leader in maritime transport, logistics and supply chain solutions. Operating in over 170 countries, the Group runs one of the world’s largest container ship fleets and plays a key role in international trade.
Against a backdrop of escalating geopolitical, economic and technological tensions, Rodolphe Saadé pointed out that the maritime sector is currently facing more than twenty simultaneous crises. Beyond the disruptions in the Red Sea and the challenges surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, global supply chains must contend with a proliferation of risks that are permanently reshaping international trade.
His speech conveyed a strong message: rather than managing crises one after the other, it is essential to invest in credible and sustainable solutions. This involves strengthening innovation, infrastructure, the resilience of supply chains and customer services, whilst ensuring that maritime transport is not penalised.
This reflection echoed the theme of the plenary session: “One world, many visions: who gets to impose theirs?”, which focused on the reshaping of the world: the return of power struggles, competition for access to resources, technological wars, the rise of trade barriers and the weakening of international institutions. In this new environment, maritime corridors are becoming, more than ever, strategic infrastructure for sovereignty, economic security and competitiveness.
These observations tie in directly with the work of the GVCdtLab, which is developing a digital twin of the St Lawrence–Great Lakes corridor to enhance the resilience, performance and foresight of supply chains through data, artificial intelligence and decision support.