France’s sluggish ports harbour big ambitions

France’s sluggish ports harbour big ambitions

By Robert Wright in Marseilles

Published: March 28 2008 01:09 | Last updated: March 28 2008 01:09

Even when working normally, Marseilles’ Mourepiane container terminal looks as if it is running in slow motion. On a typical morning, a couple of the port’s huge cranes are to be seen lowered over a small vessel, lifting containers off far more slowly than would happen at ports such as Rotterdam or Hong Kong. The booms of the terminal’s other three big cranes point into the sky, unemployed.

However, for 24 hours up to Thursday morning, the terminal’s cranes came to a standstill after workers staged a one-day strike to protest against French government plans to improve the efficiency of the country’s ports.

The strike marks the first round in what is expected to be a prolonged battle between the government and trade unions over plans to allow terminal operators to employ workers directly, training them and disciplining them according to their own standards. In Marseilles and nearly all other major French ports, dockers, even at privately-operated container terminals such as Mourepiane, are employed by public-sector port authorities which also own the equipment.

The Port of Marseilles, in which the Mourepiane is situated, is France’s busiest bulk port and second busiest container port after Le Havre. However, an estimated 30 per cent to 40 per cent of France’s container traffic is currently thought to go via Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries. The proposed reforms could encourage shippers to divert more of that traffic to French ports, according to port operators.

Chantal Helman, deputy general manager of the Port of Marseilles Authority, says the main problem at present is that staff such as crane drivers serve two bosses – the terminal operator and the port authority. Terminal operators have to hire workers and equipment from the port authority for each ship that comes in.

“It creates problems in getting better productivity,” Ms Helman says. “Plus, the more steps there are in getting goods between the ship and the quay, the more expensive it is.”

There are expectations that commercially-minded private operators may be more successful than politically-influenced port authorities in persuading unions to ditch the most restrictive working practices.

Marseilles’ port workers presently work only seven-hour shifts and the port operates only 21 hours a day, while its rivals work 24. With many container ships’ port calls lasting only an hour each, lines are reluctant to call at ports where their ships could be left standing for three hours in the middle of a call.

Jacques Saadé, chairman of CMA CGM, a Marseilles-based shipping line that is the Port of Marseilles’ largest single customer, says that some French ports – such as Le Havre, where a new development allows private-sector companies more leeway – are doing well in spite of present conditions.

However, the reforms would still make way for significant improvements. “They could be doing even better,” he says.

The question for all those involved, however, is whether the government can withstand further strikes such as Thursday’s and push reform measures through.

The precedents at Marseilles are not encouraging. A 17-day strike at the port last March over port authority attempts to allow non-port authority staff to work at a new liquefied natural gas terminal ended only when the authority largely backed down.