Marseille, Mumbai ports sign cooperative pact

The Port of Marseilles said Friday it has signed an agreement with Mumbai, India's fifth-largest port by tonnage, to cooperate on trade development, engineering, management and security issues.

Trade between Marseilles-Fos and India is currently modest, the French port said in a statement. About 20 percent of last year's 300,000-ton total was via Mumbai, which is now seeking to expand its container, export cars and oil products markets in southern Europe and North Africa.

The Port of Mumbai is not to be confused with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port, India's biggest container port, which is located in Navi Mumbai.

Marseilles Director General Jean-Claude Terrier, who joined the French port in September from a similar post at Dunkirk, signed the agreement with Mumbai counterpart Rahul Asthana.