Tomix - 3149 - Container, 31 Foot, Corrugated - CMA CGM

Specific Item Information: CMA CGM was the first shipping group to purchase containers with bamboo floors called bamboo eco-containers, as part of its commitment to environmental protection.

In 2005, the eco-container fleet totaled 400 teus. One year later, as a result of positive customer response and the strong technical performance of these containers, CMA CGM increased its fleet to 7,000 teus. The Group has confirmed the delivery of 30,000 additional teus, increasing its fleet to 37,000 teus.

‘Expanding our eco-container fleet has a dual objective. First, we want to make use of modern eco-design ideas and limit the use of tropical wood because this resource is disappearing. We also want to improve the technical performance of our own containers to ensure that we provide customers with the service they expect,’ declares Alexis Michel, senior VP of Container Logistics and a member of the company’s Environment Committee.

These efforts are all part of CMA CGM’s policy to protect the environment and already allowed to save almost 10,000 m3 of tropical wood.

Road Name History: CMA CGM S.A. is a French container transportation and shipping company. It is the world’s 3rd largest container shipping company, using 257 shipping routes between 420 ports in 160 different countries. Its headquarters are in Marseille, France and its North American headquarters are in Norfolk, Virginia.
CMA CGM, was founded in 1996 as a merger of the Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM) et the Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement (CMA).
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, the predecessor company to Compagnie Générale Maritime (CGM), at one time carried passengers on liners such as the 'Normandy' or the 'France'. CGM maintained only its cargo business when the French government decides to privatise it in 1977.
CMA was created in 1978 by Jacques Saadé as an intra-Mediterranean liner service operator, based in Marseille. After the merger, Jacques Saadé became the first chairman of CMA CGM. He was succeeded in this position by his son Rodolphe in 2017.

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Brand/Importer Information: Tomix is a brand of Takara Tomy, a large Japanese conglomerate of companies that makes toys and games for the international marketplace. The Tomix brand (along with the Tomytec brand) are both managed by the Tomytec subsidiary/division of Takara Tomy. Prior to 1976 Tomy produced model trains using the "Tomy" brand name of the products. In 1976, they launched the new brand "Tomix" to segregate their model trains from their childrens toy lines.

Generally it can be difficult to understand why Tomytec releases some items using the Tomix brand and others using the Tomytec brand. There are some generalizations we have observed. Thomas the Tank Engine falls under Tomix, as do the JNR steam engines as well as bullet trains (Shinkansen) and track cleaning cars. Maybe another curator can step in and elaborate on this section.

Manufacturer Information: Largely a Japanese manufacturer of children's toys and baby products, Takara Tomy has established a number of different subsidiary companies, with sales offices and factories located in various locations around the world. The firm is the product of a 2006 merger-of-equals between Tomy and Takara.

Takara Tomy produces N Scale model trains under their Tomytec division (we use the term loosely because it is actually a more complex relationship) using two different brand names "Tomytec" and "Tomix". Technically speaking these are not brands in the Western sense but rather they more closely resemble subsidiaries -of-subsidiaries, and where they fit in the corporate org chart may be the matter for a Master's thesis, but for our purposes we can think of them as simply two different brands with one manufacturer. In the past (prior to 1976) some model train products were branded simply "Tomy". To further confuse things, since 2000, outside of Japan, the company goes by the simple name, "Tomy" for their international subsidiaries.

If you consider both brand names as a single company, then the Tomytec/Tomix product line is the largest of its kind in Japan; with Kato following in second place (as of 2017). While Takara Tomy products are popular around the world, the firm's focus on children's toys has limited the international acceptance and distribution of its Tomytec model railroad products. Furthermore, unlike Kato, their focus tends to be heavily skewed towards Japanes prototypes.