France’s sluggish ports harbour big ambitions

Even when working normally, Marseilles’ Mourepiane container terminal looks as if it is running in slow motion. On a typical morning, a couple of the port’s huge cranes are to be seen lowered over a small vessel, lifting containers off far more slowly than would happen at ports such as Rotterdam or Hong Kong. The booms of the terminal’s other three big cranes point into the sky, unemployed.