Bruce Barnard | Nov 01, 2010 10:29AM EDT
The port of Marseille is clearing a backlog of more than 60 ships after dockworkers at the Fos-Lavera oil terminal ended their month long strike over working conditions.
The southern French port said it would take up to a month to unload the 3.5 million to 3.8 million tons of crude oil and refined petroleum from tankers and product carriers held up by the 33 day stoppage.
The terminal supplies five refineries in France and one each in Germany and Switzerland.
While the Fos-Lavera workers voted late Friday to return to work, dockworkers in the container and general cargo terminals walked off the job over the weekend in support of a nationwide strike over the government's pension reforms.
Dockworkers also staged a 24-hour strike at Marseille and other ports, including Le Havre, France's top container hub, on Oct. 28 as part of the nationwide pension protests.
Dockworkers are due to join another 24-hour nationwide stoppage on Nov. 6, but this is now in doubt after the lower and upper houses of parliament last week approved the government's proposal to increase the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60.
-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.
