Marseille-Fos Port () is the main trade seaport of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. In 2011, the port had an overall traffic of 88 million tons. It was also one of the 15 world's largest cruise ports and the fifth-largest in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
.
It has two main sites: in northern
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
from
La Joliette to
l'Estaque
L'Estaque is a village in southern France, just west of Marseille. Administratively, it belongs to the commune of Marseille.
Overview
Many artists of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods visited or resided there or in the surrounding ...
as well as in
Fos-sur-Mer
Fos-sur-Mer (, literally ''Fos on Sea''; Provençal: ''Fòs'') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France.
Geography
Fos-sur-Mer is situated about north west of Marseille, on the Mediterranean coast, and to the west ...
, about 50 km (31 mi) north west of Marseille. The port generates 41,500 jobs
has an annual turnover of €169.5 million
and a traffic of €4 billion according to an
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
study.
[http://www.marseille-port.fr/v_anglaise/presse/communiques/fichiers/2013/news_port_marseille_fos_0502_2013.pdf ]
The port is the biggest French port, the third biggest Mediterranean port and the seventh biggest European port, transporting 79 million tons of goods in 2019,
making it the 41st port in the world.
History
Historically the
Old Port of Marseille
The Old Port of Marseille (French: ''Vieux-Port de Marseille'', ) is at the end of the Canebière, the major street of Marseille. It has been the natural harbour of the city since antiquity and is now the main popular place in Marseille. It became ...
functioned as the city's primary port. In the 1840s, maritime traffic becomes too intense for its capacities and an extension seemed necessary. As second port of France, the issue was too important and the national government took action, passing a law on August 5, 1844 toward the construction of a new basin at la Joliette, to the north of the Old Port, through an ambitious project (13 million francs). The construction of the large mole used concrete block techniques. The Joliette infrastructures began to be used in 1847. The basin was fully completed in 1853.
The Development Council for the metropolitan area of Marseille-Provence has studied the creation of a technopole, or technoport, to redynamise the port activities. It would include the capacity to repair ships over 270 m (885 ft or 295 yd) long, offshore wind turbines and other innovative technologies.
[''Avis - Vers la création d'un technoport sur le territoire Marseille-Povence'']
, Conseil de Développement Marseille-Provence Métropole, June 2013.
Traffic statistics
References
{{Authority control
Transport in Marseille
Ports and harbours of France