Port of Marseille Fos bounces back in 2021

In 2021, the Port of Marseille Fos bounced back, and even broken records in the container and railway sectors. Overall, growth in maritime traffic increased by 9%.

 

While the health crisis continues to test world trade, the Port of Marseille Fos has maintained all of its activities by adapting to each new restriction measure..

 

The port managed some 9,000 calls (all calls combined) in 2021, i.e. an average of approximately 25 calls per day, as in 2019 but in a constrained health context. The Harbourmaster's Office and port services once again demonstrated their ability to adapt in order to receive all ships calling.

 

Containers (a record 1.5 million TEU) and rail (220,000 TEU moved by rail, another record) were a particular success, while bulk cargo as a sector is undergoing profound change at the port. The various shortages are impacting dry bulk cargo, particularly semiconductors which have caused a slowdown in the automotive industry, impacting steel activity, with 8mt (million tonnes) processed in 2021, up 26% compared to 2020, but down 6% compared to 2019.

 

Cumulatively, other bulk traffic (mineral terminals, Caronte, East harbour) is up 11% compared to 2020 and down 10% compared to 2019. This is due to the end of bauxite traffic, which supplied the Alteo factory in Gardanne, replaced by alumina hydrate processed in Marseille.

 

 

The continued diversification of the Port of Marseille Fos’s income is based on the development of growth drivers. For this, the Port of Marseille Fos is setting out to reconquer its area.

 

The Port of Marseille Fos owns a port area of over 10,000 hectares, spread over two harbours: 400 hectares in the city of Marseille and 10,000 hectares in the Gulf of Fos. As such, the Port of Marseille Fos develops industrial, logistics, and urban spaces. Its primary objective is to enhance the port area’s land for a sustainable and responsible development of economic activities. To succeed in the economic, energy, and digital transitions, the port and all the stakeholders that make up the port community, innovate and invest to develop port, industrial and logistics activities and reduce their carbon intensity. In 2021, the Port of Marseille Fos invested €54 million in the development and maintenance of its port area and plans to invest €60 million in 2022.

 

 

A major stakeholder in international trade, located on two European transport corridors, the Port of Marseille Fos is the gateway to southern Europe. The synergy of its two harbours reinforces Marseille’s position as a local Mediterranean port for goods and passengers, while Fos is notable for its dynamism as a global port for industry and logistics, dedicated to major intercontinental flows. Today, as a global data hub with an ever-smarter approach to the region, as well as being the European leader in shore-to-ship power and LNG ship refuelling, the Port of Marseilles Fos is committed to sustainable economic growth through responsible and innovative industrial development fostering a circular economy.