The president and founder of CMA CGM, the world’s third largest container shipping line, has said the company now has a few years’ breathing space before again facing serious competition from Maersk Line, the world number one.

Jacques Saadé was speaking to the Financial Times after AP Møller-Maersk, Maersk Line’s parent, on Friday announced an unprecedented cull of senior management apparently aimed at reversing nearly two years of poor performance at a shipping business with twice the capacity of its nearest competitor, Mediterranean Shipping Company.