Le Havre’s 2008 total volume up but container throughput down

Although total port volumes were below expectations, the Port is putting a gloss on the results b y saying that this is the first time for almost thirty years and the fourth time in its history that Le Havre port traffic has passed the figure of 80m tonnes a yea.

However, stripping out the liquid bulk figures reveals that dry bulk tonnages fell by 2.5% to 4.7m tonnes, while container throughput fell by around 5% to a provisional figure of 2.5m teu. Throughput expectations were not only adversely impacted by the strikes related to the French port reform especially during the second quarter of the year, but also by the effects of the global economic slow down.

Of the Port’s total container throughput, more than one third was handled in Port 2000; domestic volumes increased by 6%; rail transport volumes increased by 28.3% and transhipments decreased by around 40%.