Container traffic at Marseille, France's biggest port and second largest box hub, tumbled 32 percent in February from a year ago on sharply lower imports from Asia and sporadic strikes by longshoremen. The Mediterranean seaport handled 62,049 TEUs last month compared with 91,059 TEUs in February 2008, taking traffic for the first two months of the year to 127,991 TEUs, down 25 percent from 169,925 TEUs in the same period in 2008.
Marseille blamed the decline on reduced volumes in the Asia-Europe trade, which accounts for around 60 percent of its box traffic, and rolling strikes by dock workers protesting government plans to privatize container handling later in the year.
Strikes were also largely responsible for a 15 percent fall in 2008 traffic to 848,000 TEUs from over one million TEUs the previous year as thousands of containers were diverted to Barcelona, Genoa and other Mediterranean ports.
The port was at a standstill on March 19 as dock workers joined a 24-hour general strike to protest the government's economic policies.
Total traffic in February fell 21 percent from a year ago to 12.7 million tonnes with all sectors showing declines, including general and break bulk cargo down 50 percent. This was an improvement on January when traffic slumped 24 percent to a 10-year low of 6.5 million tonnes.
Marseille blamed the decline on reduced volumes in the Asia-Europe trade, which accounts for around 60 percent of its box traffic, and rolling strikes by dock workers protesting government plans to privatize container handling later in the year.
Strikes were also largely responsible for a 15 percent fall in 2008 traffic to 848,000 TEUs from over one million TEUs the previous year as thousands of containers were diverted to Barcelona, Genoa and other Mediterranean ports.
The port was at a standstill on March 19 as dock workers joined a 24-hour general strike to protest the government's economic policies.
Total traffic in February fell 21 percent from a year ago to 12.7 million tonnes with all sectors showing declines, including general and break bulk cargo down 50 percent. This was an improvement on January when traffic slumped 24 percent to a 10-year low of 6.5 million tonnes.