Vikash Anand, CMA CGM's chief commercial officer, said that despite tensions with the United States and the shift of manufacturing to Southeast Asia, China could not be completely removed from the supply chain.

Speaking at the Asia Maritime Conference in Singapore, Mr Vikash said: "If you look at it in absolute terms, the Chinese economy is still positive. These shifts are really more about diversification. We cannot predict whether things will be different 10 years from now. But for now, it's 'China plus many.'"

Changes in supply chain dynamics are driving the development of intra-regional container shipping, especially intra-Asian shipping. The super-Panamax, once the traditional workhorses of the trans-Pacific and Asia-Europe routes, "now serves intra-regional routes that have reached critical mass", Mr Vikash said.

CMA CGM's observation is that more and more cargo is being transported within Asia and then making long voyages.

"The volume of business [producing the same goods] is bigger now than it used to be," says Mr Vikash. Intra-asian trade will not replace long-haul transport, but complement it."

He also spoke about CMA CGM's plans to invest $20 billion in maritime transportation, logistics and supply chains in the United States over the next four years, a move widely seen as a move by CMA CMA to avoid Trump's desire to impose high port fees on shipping companies that own Chinese-built vessels.

"Our exposure [to Chinese-made vessels] is not unmanageable," Mr Vikash said. Our alliance means that no one is immune from any form of influence. We can redeploy our ships to comply with any rules.

He said CMA CGM's investments, which cover ship construction, port infrastructure, a research centre in Boston and an aviation hub in Chicago, were a "broad way to build relationships" that would expand the airline's presence in the US.

He added: "Our subsidiary APL has a US-flagged ship under its banner. There are ways to mitigate these problems. The key is to be flexible and redeploy our assets."