Patrick Moebel has been appointed chief executive officer of CEVA Logistics, effective 1 July 2026. The appointment was announced by parent group CMA CGM as part of a wider reorganization of its logistics and technology leadership, and places a 30 year veteran of the freight forwarding industry at the head of one of the world's largest third party logistics companies.
Moebel joins from FedEx Logistics, where he most recently served as president of the specialty logistics arm of FedEx Corporation, with responsibility for global freight forwarding, customs brokerage and trade services. His earlier career includes senior leadership positions at Geodis Freight Forwarding, ABX Logistics, Exel and Schenker, a track record that spans the European and North American markets at the center of CEVA's growth plans.
The leadership change comes as CEVA enters a new phase following the integration of Bollore Logistics, the French freight forwarder acquired by CMA CGM and folded into its logistics subsidiary. With the integration complete, the company has said it intends to strengthen its position in North America, expand its end to end logistics services and accelerate sustainable growth.
In an orderly transition, Moebel takes over from Mathieu Friedberg, who moves to the parent group as executive vice president in charge of transformation, a newly focused mandate covering artificial intelligence, information technology and cybersecurity for the wider CMA CGM organization. The twin appointments, both effective 1 July 2026, keep the outgoing chief executive's integration experience inside the group while handing CEVA to an external operator with deep forwarding credentials.
The choice of a FedEx executive is a telling one. CEVA's ambitions in North America have been explicit since the Bollore integration gave it greater scale in Europe, Africa and Asia, and Moebel's operating history in the United States market addresses the geography where CEVA has the most ground to gain against larger rivals. His freight forwarding background also aligns with the mix of air and ocean volumes that the Bollore business brought into the group.
For CMA CGM, the reshuffle continues the group's build out of a logistics arm intended to rival the largest global players, while concentrating its technology agenda under an executive who knows the operating businesses from the inside. The group, headquartered in Marseille and led by chairman and chief executive officer Rodolphe Saade, has invested heavily in logistics diversification alongside its core container shipping fleet.
Moebel inherits a company with a worldwide network across contract logistics and freight management. The task ahead is less about integration and more about conversion: turning the enlarged network into share gains in North America and consistent growth across the enlarged customer base.
