A mixed first-half at French port Marseille Fos saw continued growth in general cargo and a recovery in passenger numbers, while total cargo throughput dropped by 3% during the first half of 2016, finishing at 39.13 million tonnes.
Passenger throughput recovered from a 13% slump in the first quarter of the year to finish on 962,000, matching last year’s first-half performance as the summer season went into full swing. Cruise numbers alone rose by 2% to 617,000.
Furthermore, general cargo increased 1% to 9.2 million tons, including 6 million tons from containers. In unit terms, 3% growth at the port kept overall volumes stable on 623,137 TEU.
General cargo activity in the Marseille harbour area remained stable due to a rise of 7% in ro-ro traffic to 2 million tons, in contrast to a 6% fall in conventional trades, which are linked to steel products.
Liquid bulks dipped by 3% to 23.4 million tons, while oil and gas volumes fell by 2% to 21.9 million tons, with a drop in crude imports by 6%, refined products by 2% and LPG by 13%. The port saw a surge in LNG volumes which were up by 31% to 2.6 million tons on rising European demand.
Meanwhile liquid chemicals and agro-products were hit both by the strike and a March/April technical stoppage at the Berre petro-chemicals base, ending 16% down on 1.5 million tons.
Dry bulks fell 10% to 6.6 million tons, mainly attributed to the Europe-wide steel industry crisis. Throughput was also affected by conversion of the Uniper energy company’s coal-fired Gardanne power station to biomass fuel.