Some throughput results just in...

Container trade at Le Havre dropped 10% in 2009 to 2.2m teu, although the port authority maintains business has held up well, compared with others in the northern Europe range. Consequently, Le Havre remains by far the largest of France’s container ports, largely owing to the continued support of some major carriers, including CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and China Shipping. "In addition, the French market was rather steady, owing to a relatively healthy level of household consumption for the major part of the year," says port spokeswoman Veronique Hauchecorne.

In fact Le Havre’s Port 2000 reached 80% of its present 1.1m teu capacity. Six additional berths are scheduled for completion over the next 12 months.

Container transhipment in particular is a toughly contested trade in northern Europe, even more so during the past depressed year. However, Le Havre says it has maintained a relatively stable market share. Another source of satisfaction was a 10%-plus increase in containerised barge traffic along the River Seine. "In 2010, the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris will pool their marketing effort to reinforce this growth," adds Hauchecorne.

Provisional figures for Marseilles show container throughput growth of 4% to 882,580teu. Strong growth in imports from the Far East had a substantial positive impact on traffic at Fos, although the western port also benefited from regular services deserting the Mourepiane terminal.

For the port of Dunkirk, figures to the end of November are the latest available as Cargo Systems goes to press. These show a cumulative result of 189,000teu since January 2009, 4% down on the corresponding period in the previous year.

France’s fourth largest port Nantes-St Nazaire saw teu throughput fall back marginally by 2.2%. The port attributes this relatively stable result to a burst in trade with France’s Caribbean islands. However, car imports slumped 40% during 2009. Port of Bordeaux reported gross cargo tonnage of 8.8m tonnes, a drop of just 2.9% on 2008. Lower throughput in many of Bordeaux’s traditional bulk cargoes was compensated by the port’s growing businesses of seed crushing and biomass, which supports both import and export traffic.

Exports of forest products (up 200,000 tonnes to 235,000 tonnes) were massively boosted by the results of a winter storm in January 2009, which felled thousands of trees across south west France. But the potential for this trade also encouraged CMA CGM to establish a new feeder service for exports to the Far East and MSC to set up a new "wood" hub at Verdon. These results helped container exports from Bordeaux grow by an impressive 44% to 80,018teu.