Investors give nod to France port reforms

In Marseilles, management of the Fos container terminal and dry bulk terminal was assumed by private companies as of May 3, 2011, followed on May 16 by the transfer of the Fos oil terminals and on June 5 by Marseilles container terminal.

Jean-Claude Terrier, director-general of Marseilles Fos Port Authority, confirms that the majority of the operating equipment owned by the port was purchased by the new operators, including 100 discharge arms and pipelines at the oil terminal, two cranes and two reloaders at the dry bulk terminal, six post-panamax cranes at Fos container terminal and four container gantries and one quay crane at Marseille.

“This transfer of operations wholly to the private sector should result in greater reliability and better productivity,” says Mr Terrier. “Already, investors seem to have confidence in the new measures.”

He notes that this is reflected in the amount of new investment being made in the logistics area by newcomers to the port. In 2011, for example, Mattel and Geodis/Maisons du Monde built 200,000m² of new warehouses, while a new 200,000m² multimodal park is to be built within five years.

Prior to the revamp of port operations, labour unions caused severe disruption in protest at national issues. However, Mr Terrier notes that since then there has been a real change of attitude, typified by the fact that last year the unions participated with the port authority in promotional visits to Paris, Geneva and Lyons.

Fears that the uniting of quay and yard functions might result in significant unemployment have not been realised. Indeed, in Fos, stevedoring companies have employed 120 new dockers to replace both those who have retired and also for the new Fos 2XL terminals.

“Since implementation of the reforms was successfully completed last June, various productivity improvements have been reported by the Union Maritime et Fluviale, the association representing 22 port professions across 300 companies. The breakdown rate of ship-to-shore gantries, for example, has fallen to below 5%. At the Med Europe (ex-Mourepiane) container terminal in Marseilles, productivity has risen from 14 to 23 moves per hour and truck waiting time has been virtually eliminated.

“At Fos, where container quays have been doubled in length, ship waiting time has been reduced to almost zero compared with the two to three days observed a year earlier,” says Mr Terrier.

Significantly, both stevedoring companies in Fos have also bought two super post-panamax cranes.

Crucially, he says that the arrival of Ciments du Lacydon as a major dry bulk customer in Marseilles would not have been possible without the reforms.