Chargeurs Réunis (United Shippers) is a major French company formed in 1872. It is now known as Chargeurs ().

Profile and management

Chargeurs is a global, diversified group with leadership positions in niche markets, both in manufacturing and in services. It operates in three business segments: * Temporary surface protection, through Chargeurs Protective Films * Technical textiles, through Chargeurs Interlining * Topmaking and combed wool sales, through Chargeurs Wool. In 2012, consolidated revenue totaled €524.6 million, of which 94% was generated outside France. With operations in 33 countries on five continents, the Group has more than 1,800 employees. Eduardo Malone is chairman and chief executive officer. The executive committee also includes Martine Odillard, chief operating officer, Laurent Derolez, managing director of Chargeurs Protective Films, Federico Paullier, managing director of Chargeurs Wool, and Stéphane Rigaut, managing director of Chargeurs Interlining.

History

Chargeurs was formed in 1872 as a shipping company, named Compagnie Maritime des Chargeurs Réunis ('CMCR'), initially operating between

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

and the River Plate. In 1883 it took over the Société Postale de l'Atlantique and started a service to

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. In 1894 it took over Compagnie Commerciale des Transports à Vapeur Français, giving it that company's services to

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and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

Chargeurs operated a route to

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

''via''

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

from 1896 to 1905, and then a round the World route from 1905 to 1911. From 1901 the company ran a route from

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

and

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. From 1928 to 1931 it ran an emigrant route for the Polish government from

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

to Brazil and Argentina. In 1929 it started running banana boats from Africa to France. In 1946 it started a cargo service between

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

and the United States. Chargeurs discontinued passenger services after the independence of

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

from France in the early 1950s and the increase in air travel. Chargeurs was a shareholder in

British Satellite Broadcasting British Satellite Broadcasting plc (BSB) was a television company, based in London, that provided satellite television, direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. It started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company ...

, the official UK satellite broadcaster. BSB was set up in 1986 in competition with

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's Sky Television. Sky was launched in 1989, a year earlier than BSB. Both companies suffered massive losses and BSB collapsed. This allowed a merger on Murdoch's terms to form

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. Chargeurs maintained a minority shareholding. In 1992, Chargeurs bought media group

Pathé Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...

for 1.2 billion francs. Chargeurs demerged Pathé in 1996: Chargeurs became an industrial group with textile activities and protective films business, whereas Pathé SA retained the media interests: the film, television, cinema chain and the shareholdings in pay TV operators British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and

CanalSatellite Canal+ is a French subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and subscription TV provider. The TV provider was established as CanalSatellite in 1992 and later rebranding to CanalSat and the streaming service was launched as ...

Current structure

The company's three units are: *Chargeurs Protective Films, which offers temporary surface protection *Chargeurs Interlining, which manufactures technical textiles *Chargeurs Wool, which provides raw material processing

References

Links

* * * * {{Authority control Conglomerate companies established in 1872 French companies established in 1872 Companies listed on Euronext Paris Textile companies of France Shipping companies of France