The Port of Marseille Fos (GPMM) saw its containerised rail freight traffic dip by 22 per cent last year compared to 2022, reducing its modal share from 16.9 per cent to 15.2 per cent.
The operating authority highlighted that to the backdrop of a difficult macroeconomic climate and geopolitical instability, its global traffic declined to 72 million tonnes last year compared to 77 million tonnes in 2022 with general cargo down 12 per cent.
As for bulk traffic, an important segment for combined rail-road freight, there was a mixed performance. Solid bulk was down 24 per cent due to the shutdown of one of steel maker ArcelorMittal’s blast furnaces and a fall in European demand for steel. Liquid bulk remained stable compared with the previous year, buoyed by the dynamism of crude oil imports.
The economic downturn, as well as industrial action in the first few months of 2023, had a direct impact on intermodal freight transport in the port’s hinterland, leading to the cancellation of rail services and the non-operation of numerous calls by barge.
Also read: Stagnant to stable outlook for French rail freight in 2024
Is Marseille losing its position?
The publication of GPMM’s annual results sparked stiff criticism from dockers’ unions, which highlighted a lack of infrastructure for combined (road-rail) freight transport at the port’s eastern docks. “We have fallen unacceptably behind schedule on both dock decarbonisation and rail connections,” a CGT dockers’ union official told local newspaper, La Provence.
He said another French Med port, Sète, to the west, was attracting a large part of the traffic historically handled at Marseille, thanks to heavy investment, particularly in intermodal freight. “Marseille is gradually losing its position as a leading port in the Mediterranean,” the official added.
However, GPMM underlined that global investment at the port had increased significantly in 2023 on the previous year, rising from 60 million euros to 76 million euros which marked the launch of a multi-year programme of major logistics development. This included 18.3 million euros on projects focused on the modal shift of goods to rail.
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