At the start of 2024, the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille presented its results for the year 2023. With the notable exception of passenger traffic, all its other activities are in decline.
War in Ukraine, tensions in the Middle East, inflation… The international “deep geopolitical instability” is considered by its managers as one of the causes of the drop in traffic at the port of Marseille Fos. In 2023, total traffic amounted to 72 million tonnes, compared to 77 in 2022. A drop of 6.5% in one year, in particular due to the reduction in container traffic (-11%) and trailers (-9 %).
After a difficult start to the year due to social movements affecting refineries in particular, liquid bulks remained stable in 2023 (after an increase of 5% in 2022, driven by the strong surge in LNG), while solid bulks increased. plunged to -24%. The reason, explains the Port, is “the shutdown of one of ArcelorMittal’s blast furnaces and a drop in European demand for steel”. Also decreasing is the river modal shift of containers (-14% compared to 2022) and rail transport of containers (-22%).
On the other hand, passenger transport is doing better: 4 million people passed through Marseille in 2023, or 36% more than the previous year. On its own, “the cruise activity shows good growth (+76%) with more than 2.5 million passengers”, specifies the Port, and sees the number of stopovers increasing (573 in 2022, 626 in 2023).
76 million euros of investments
Despite these generally mixed results, the port’s turnover increased by 10.8% in 2023, reaching 210.5 million euros “thanks to the signing of new contracts and excellent results on passenger traffic” .
The year 2023 was also marked by “strong growth” investments compared to 2022 (+27%). 76 million euros were thus invested in installations “serving the development of the Port” and with a strong environmental dimension. 31.6 million euros were thus dedicated to projects linked to the ecological transition and the decarbonization of activities, or 8.8 million euros dedicated to the electrical connection of ships at the quay.
In 2024, this effort will continue, indicates the Port, with “an unrivaled investment budget”. Set at 118 million euros, the envelope will be used to pursue projects linked to ecological transition and decarbonization (57 million), the development of maritime activities and the development of basins and terminals (31 million) and the modernization of port infrastructure (30 million).
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2024-01-24 23:53:30
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