Port of Marseilles Authority Names New Director-General

Guy Janin has been named the new director-general of the Port of Marseilles Authority. Janin, 58, has been head of the inland waterways authority Voies Navigables de France (VNF) since 2004. His nomination by the French minister of transport and maritime affairs was approved at a port board meeting on November 24 and is due to be formally ratified at a government cabinet meeting. Predecessor Eric Brassart, 56, stepped down in October following a sympathy strike by the port’s CGT union members opposing plans to privatize State ferry operator SNCM. The government marked his departure with praise for the port’s growth during his eight-year tenure and stressed that he is to be assigned to new tasks. Janin is a civil engineer and has long experience in national and regional public works departments dating from 1970. His first appointment at director level was in 1993 in the Saone/Loire authority, followed by two similar posts in the Var and Val de Marne regions. Immediately before joining VNF, he spent three years as a deputy director of personnel in the national ministry of works.