Container traffic rose 5 percent at Marseilles in the first ten months of 2009 compared with a year ago even as France's biggest port suffered a double digit decline in overall cargo volume.
Total cargo shrunk 16 percent to 68.8 million metric tons, reflecting the impact of the global economic downturn on most sectors, particularly oil traffic, which dropped 11 percent to 48.1 million metric tons. Bulk shipments collapsed by 48 per cent to 6.2 million metric tons.
Box shipments rose to 741,548 20-foot equivalent units in the ten months ending in October from 705,542 TEUs in the corresponding period in 2008.Traffic fell, however, by two percent in October to 73,051 TEUs.
The gain in box traffic was insufficient to offset lower conventional cargo and roll-on, roll-off volumes, leaving general cargo throughput 7 percent lower at 11.9 million metric tons.
Marseille's box traffic fell 15 percent in 2008 to just short of 848,000 TEUs from a little over one million TEUs in 2007 as protracted dockworker strikes diverted boxes to rival Mediterranean ports including Barcelona and Genoa.
Marseilles is France's second largest container port after Le Havre, which handled 2.5 million TEUs in 2008.
The Journal of Commerce Online
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