PORT OF LAVERA (MARSEILLE-FOS)

Marseille port officially named in «French Grand Port Maritime de Marseille» is the main French trade seaport.

Marseille port situated on the French Mediterranean Coast at position 43° 24’ N-005 ° 0’E.

The Port of Marseille Fos is divided into two distinct parts: The Eastern Harbours and the Western Harbours.

The Eastern Harbours, located close to the city of Marseille, are dedicated to national and international ferry traffic, cruise ships, RoRo ships, container ships, bulk cargo ships (sugar, flour, wheat, alumina, etc.), and so on.

They are comprised of seven docks, six of which are contiguous and connected by passageways, along with two outer docks, one to the North and one to the South.

The Western Harbours, which are accessed via the Omega Buoy through a channel in the Gulf of Fos, are dedicated to crude oil and oil products, chemicals, gas, container, bulk and RoRo traffic..

The port generates 45,000 jobs and $ 4 billion euros of value added according to an OECD study.

The Port covered in the Marseilles section are: Marseilles Port Saint Louis du Rhone Fos Port de Bouc Lavera Etang de Berre Caronte La mede Berre( Port de la Pointe)

Fos-Lavera-Berre, near Marseille, is the biggest petrochemical site in southern Europe.It includes 40% of French production of ethylene and 60% of butadiene. It is also the only French site and one of the few in the world to supply ethylene oxide.

The Marseille port is largest port of France, the world’s third-biggest(as a crude oil terminal), fifth in Europe, port with annual traffic of around 80,4 million metric tons.

Annual number of port calls (estimated)Eastern Harbours: 3,663 port callsWestern Harbours: 4,476 port calls + 2,468 river dockings

Port traffic General

cargo (tons)

Containers (TEU) Passengers

2010 86 M 953,435 2.06 M 2011 88 M 944,047 2.3 M 2012 85.79 M 1,062,40

8 2.4 M

In 2013, the total traffic at the Port of Marseille-Fos reached 80,04 million tonnes, broken down into : 17,33 million tons of general cargo, including

1.097.740 containers in TEUS, 3,94 millions tons Ro-Ro 2,62 millions tons conventionnal cargo 46,13 million tons of petroleum products, 3,42 million tons of liquid bulk, 13,17 million tons of solid bulk. 2,62 millions of passengers are ading on to this

merchandises, including 1,17 million for cruise.

The Harbours offer favourable nautical conditions: easy approaches, an absence of tides and strong currents and excellent visibility.

The Fos harbour area can receive the largest vessels in the world.The largest vessel handled: ‘Batillus’, 500.500DWT ULCC

Lengthoverall  was14.22 m, Beam 63.01 m, Draft 28.50 m,  Deadweight Tonnage 553,662 t, and Gross tonnage 273,550 GT. The cargo was carried in 40 tanks with a total volume of 677,300 m3.

• Length overall was 414.22 m, beam 63.01 m, draft 28.50 m, deadweight tonnage 553,662 t, and gross tonnage 273,550 GT. The cargo was carried in 40 tanks with a total volume of 677,300 m3.

PORT OF LAVERA

• Lavéra is located 30 miles west of Marseille, in the south of France. The site occupies 650 hectares of land on the Mediterranean coast.

• The Lavéra operates a variety of chemicals units to deliver over two million tons of chemical products each year. 

The key strength of operations in Europe is the high degree of upstream infrastructure integration between crackers* and their feedstock sources.

This integration allows to leverage the sites’ infrastructure, energy management and work force and realize feedstock synergies in both direction

*Crackers is one of the most important conversion processes used in petroleum refineries. It is widely used to convert the high-boiling, high-molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum crude oils to more valuable gasoline, olefinic gases, and other products

The primary feedstocks of refineries are crude oil, condensates, atmospheric residues, hydrogen and a range of blend components such as pygas.  The main variables in the selection of a particular type of crude oil are price and quality,  with heavy/high sulphur, sour slates being cheaper than lighter/sweeter slates.  

Due to their technology and configurations, both refineries are very flexible and able to process these low-cost, high-acid crude oils from domestic and deep sea sources.

  Fuels Feedstocks Non-FuelProducts Gasoline Naphtha Sulphur

  Diesel LPG Bitumen*

  Jet-fuel (ATK) Wax Lubricant base oil feedstock*

  Kerosene (RSK) Coke  

  Gas Oil/Heating Oil

Atmospheric residue (AtRes)  

  Fuel Oil      Naphtha      LPG    

Associated petrochemical units are fully integrated and use power generation infrastructure at each refinery, consisting of power stations and long-term contracts with local utility companies provide steam and electricity at a lower cost.

Lavera has access to a comprehensive transportation network and associated logistics infrastructure through a combination of ownership and long-term contracts. Transportation modes include pipelines, ship, rail and road.

Lavera TerminalName Max Draft Cargoes and facilities *

A4 12.00 m•White and black products•Chemical Gas•Bunker fuel

A1/A2 10.10 m•White and black products•Chemicals•Chemical Gas

B 11.60 m •White and black products

C 11.00 m •White and black products

D 11.80 m •White and black products•Caustic Soda

E 11.80 m •White and black products•Caustic Soda

F 12.50 m•Black products•LPG•Industrial water

G 12.50 m •LPG•Black products

H 11.50 m •Chemicals

H BIS 10.90 m •LPG•Chemicals

* Fresh water available at every pier.

White products: Gasoline, naphtha, kerosine and gas oil, ie products from the high or light end of the distillation process. Black products: Diesel oils and fuels oils, ie products from the low or heavy end of the distillation process. Caustic Soda: NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide)

• Pilotage is mandatory for navigating vessels including anchoring and departing the anchorage.

• Seawater density may reach values of less than 1.026.

• Speeds are not limited in the channels and entrances to the docks

• For vessels carrying oil, gases or chemical products, at least one tug is compulsory for entrance, departure and maneuvering

• Nautical operations: entries, departures, movements from berth to berth, will be suspended whenever a threshold of 45 knots wind velocity measured over 30 minutes is attained.

• Marseille has 12 tugboats. 6 of them operating in Western Harbour (Fos-Lavera region).

• Recomended mooring ship of less than 40.000DWT 3+2+2, more than 40.000 DWT 4+2+2

• Ships and boats containing dangerous or polluting materials must be ready for towage(Emg.Towing Pendant) in case of a fire on board or nearby

Air20 minutes from international airport with

flights to and from more than 83 cities and 30 countries 

Rail1 ½ hours from Lyon, 3 hours from Paris, 

4 ½ hours from London, 5 hours from Brussels.

The prevailing wind is the Mistral, from the North to Northwest sector.