French Prime Minister François Fillon has announced that the handling activities at seven of the country’s nine public ports will be privatised.
The move is an effort to improve efficiencies at the ports of Bordeaux, Dunkirk, La Rochelle. Le Havre, Marseille, Nantes-Saint-Nazaire and Rouen.
The French government will grant funds to enable the country’s ports to make the necessary investments to increase their total annual throughput from 3.6 million containers per year to around 10 million by 2015.
The decision is part of a port reform plan, which has not been well received by the port & dock union.
According to a Reuters report, France's port and dock union (part of the CGT federation) said it would call a 48-hour strike on March 11-12 unless the public port authorities agreed to start negotiations this week.
The CGT last week lifted a threat of immediate strike action in state-owned ports but kept a strike notice over the government reform plan.
Strikes at Marseille's Port Autonome (PAM), which accommodates the Fos-Lavera oil hub, disrupted port and refinery activities, threatening fuel supplies in south-eastern France.
The move is an effort to improve efficiencies at the ports of Bordeaux, Dunkirk, La Rochelle. Le Havre, Marseille, Nantes-Saint-Nazaire and Rouen.
The French government will grant funds to enable the country’s ports to make the necessary investments to increase their total annual throughput from 3.6 million containers per year to around 10 million by 2015.
The decision is part of a port reform plan, which has not been well received by the port & dock union.
According to a Reuters report, France's port and dock union (part of the CGT federation) said it would call a 48-hour strike on March 11-12 unless the public port authorities agreed to start negotiations this week.
The CGT last week lifted a threat of immediate strike action in state-owned ports but kept a strike notice over the government reform plan.
Strikes at Marseille's Port Autonome (PAM), which accommodates the Fos-Lavera oil hub, disrupted port and refinery activities, threatening fuel supplies in south-eastern France.