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Marseille port privatises stevedoring operations
2009/4/7
The port of Marseille in southern France voted on late last week in favour of the privatisation of stevedoring activities, Le Figaro reported.
The move is in line with the port reform strategy envisaged by the French government.
Under the plan, stevedoring services for both bulk and container cargo will go into the hands of private companies.
However, trade unions have been staging protests against the planned changes since February 3 and have obtained some concessions.
Thus, the petrol terminals will be operated by a subsidiary in which the port of Marseille will be the majority shareholder.
At the same time, dock workers responsible for ship repair and passengers traffic will continue to work for the port and will not be transferred to private companies.
Only 650 out of the 1,500 port employees will start working for private groups.
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2009/4/8