Marseilles-Fos box volumes rise 11%

Marseilles-Fos box volumes rise 11%    Container traffic volumes at the port of Marseilles-Fos rose 11 percent in the first nine months of the year to 689,000 TEUs, when compared to January-September of 2003.
   The Fos terminals, which handle east-west container services, saw an 11% increase in box throughput to 445,000 TEUs, while the mainly north-south traffic at the terminals of Marseilles rose 10 percent to 244,000 TEUs.
   The French port said container tonnage rose 15 percent to 6.85 million tons in the first nine months.
   However, total January-September traffic for all commodities dipped 1.5 percent to 70.12 million tons, due to a 5-percent decrease in oil volumes to 44.3 million tons.