MARSEILLES MAINTAINS BOX GROWTH

The dominance of Maersk can be seen in figures released by Algeciras port authority covering January and February 2005 during which throughput at the port amounted to 501,514 TEUs.

Container growth at Marseilles is running at 10% compared with last year following throughput of 608,000TEUs in the eight months to the end of August. Overall port traffic for the period was down 2.3% at 62.47m tons due largely to a 6% drop in oil volumes. The oil deficit – caused by fluctuating demand from domestic and foreign refineries for imported crude – has now stabilised due to strong exports of refined products.