Containers, Crude Drive Q1 Increase at Marseille Fos

 

Box traffic rose 8 percent to 312,820 TEU after growth of 9 percent at the deepsea Fos terminals and 5 percent at the largely intra-Mediterranean Marseille facility. The performance was marked by a 15 percent increase in March, when the port handled an all-time high of almost 116,000 TEU. The container volumes drove general cargo to a three-point improvement on 4.4 million metric tons, which included 870,000 metric tons from Ro-Ro (up 5 percent) and 610,000 metric tons in conventional trades (down 11 percent). 

 

The oil-led liquid bulks sector jumped 12 percent to 12.27 million metric tons. Crude oil and petroleum products saw a 13 percent increase on 11.42 million metric tons, notably because crude imports soared 28 percent to 7.22 million metric tons as refineries took advantage of falling prices. LPG gained 21 percent for 730,000 metric tons, although LNG fell 24 percent to 750,000 metric tons and refined products were 5 percent down on 2.72MT. Elsewhere in the sector, liquid chemicals and agro-products slipped 3 percent to some 860,000 metric tons due to lower imports of biofuels and MTBE.

 

Dry bulks totaled 3.43 million metric tons, down 4 percent compared with a particularly strong first quarter in 2014. The fall stemmed from a 4 percent drop to 2.4 million metric tons in imports of raw materials for the steel industry, but this trade recovered from a slow start to the year with a 41 percent month-on-month increase in March to 980,000 metric tons. 

 

Passenger throughput was down 4 percent to 308,000 due to an unaccustomed blip in cruise numbers, which fell 11 percent to 178,000. However, this reflected a market-driven change in the schedule of port calls, which now focuses on the summer season, and the deficit is set to be wiped out over the full year. Meanwhile Corsica and North Africa ferry carryings rose 8 percent to 130,000, although the market remains difficult.