Splash247: Marseille-Fos maps out $1.5bn expansion through 2029

France’s biggest port has unveiled an investment plan of unprecedented scale as Marseille-Fos races to secure a stronger foothold in the Mediterranean container market. The new 2025–2029 strategic blueprint, approved this week, calls for up to €1.3bn ($1.5bn) in spending — triple the previous five-year cycle — as the port doubles down on terminal upgrades, automation and port-city redevelopment.

At the sharp end of the plan is the long-trailed expansion of Fos 2XL. A fresh agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Co will add 120 m of quay and extra yard space, allowing two 400 m megamax boxships to work simultaneously and giving the terminal a long-overdue injection of capacity.

Marseille-Fos is also pouring money into its own institutional overhaul. A new headquarters and training centre is due in 2028, while the port’s historic J0 hall is set for a full transformation into a public-facing Port Center, museum and event space by 2030 — part of efforts to stitch the industrial waterfront back into the city.

Port chiefs say the five-year plan is designed to push freight and passenger growth, bolster logistics corridors deep into France and accelerate the region’s energy transition.