In other high spots, dry bulks soared 23% to 5.8MT due to raw materials imports for the steel industry, while passenger numbers were marked by a 12% rise in the cruise sector as the season came into full swing.
With box trades up by 58% for the Americas, 10% for the Mediterranean and 8.6% for Asia, volumes through the Fos container terminals rose 18% to 400,000 teu and the Marseilles terminal gained 2% for 120,000 teu. This led a 12% increase in general cargo to 8.6MT, which included 2.1MT from ro-ro services (+3%) and 1.3MT on conventional trades – a 17% rise reflecting demand for steel products.
Liquid bulks were down 12% on 28.3MT, stemming from a 13% drop in crude oil and petroleum products to 26.6MT. Oil refinery shutdowns continued to hit crude imports, which were pegged to 11.4MT (-22%) for national refineries and 4.1MT (-13%) for pipeline deliveries to Switzerland and Germany. LNG slumped 24% to 2.8MT, but LPG improved 13% for 1.2MT and refined products gained 10% for 7MT. Other liquid bulks – chemicals and agro-products – made up 1.7MT of the total, a 2% improvement led by an 11% rise in biofuels.
Passenger throughput increased 8% to 855,400. Ferry carryings improved 6% to 499,000 while cruise numbers rose 12% to 356,400, underlining the growing role of Marseille as host port to ever-larger vessels. In June alone more than 110,000 cruise clients passed through the port, which handled an average of 3,600 passengers per day.
Port starts talks on combined transport project
Following a call for tenders, the Marseilles Fos supervisory board has chosen a four-strong consortium to develop and operate a combined transport hub alongside the Med Europe container terminal in the Marseilles harbour area.
The group consists of Progenor, a Credit Agricole subsidiary specialising in multimodal platform projects, and three of the port’s established transport providers – CMA Rail, T3M and SNCF Geodis subsidiary Naviland Cargo. Negotiations on co-financing and the operating agreement are now under way and due to be completed by the end of the year.
With an estimated cost of €60 million, the facility will provide a single rail-road interface that serves Med Europe container trades and also traffic displaced from a smaller combined transport terminal that is being redeveloped under the Euromediterranee urban renovation scheme.
The new hub will be able to handle 150,000 boxes and swap bodies per year, doubling capacity for rail-borne traffic in the Marseilles port zone and helping to reduce the current 85% balance of containers transported by road.
Investment on the ten-hectare site will cover the lengthening of rail lines, road improvements, construction of a container depot and the purchase of railhead gantries.