Paris (AFP)

Several major French seaports were blocked Tuesday at the call of the national federation CGT of Ports and Docks, which launched a new operation "dead ports" until Thursday to protest against the pension reform.

In Le Havre, no boat entered or left, but access to the industrial port area was not blocked. It is "impossible" to give a rate of strikers among dockers distributed in several handling companies, told AFP Haropa, the manager of the port of Le Havre.

In Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, all terminals were blocked according to the CGT, a powerful union in the ports and docks branch, a blockage confirmed by management. "Nothing comes out, nothing comes in. The boats cannot be unloaded. The dockers are on strike 100%," Patrick Joly, deputy secretary general of the general union of port workers CGT on the site, told AFP.

In Marseille, the access doors to the port were also blocked, except one to allow cruise passengers to leave, said Pascal Galéoté, CGT manager. The strikers plan to close all access without exception in the afternoon.

The national federation CGT of Ports and Docks had called on Monday all workers in the sector to a new 72-hour work stoppage from Tuesday, as well as to the installation of pickets on Friday in front of the management of the seven major seaports : Dunkirk, Le Havre, Rouen, Nantes-Saint-Nazaire, La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Marseille.

Tuesday, "there is 100% participation in the seven major seaports and it is almost 100% in almost all the other ports where the CGT is present" such as Calais, Cherbourg, Saint-Malo, Lorient, Bastia or Ajaccio, Tony Hautbois, secretary general of the federation, told AFP. The operation "continues tomorrow (Wednesday), the day after tomorrow (Thursday) and we will then decide on the modalities of action for next week," he added.

Port activity shutdowns, which have occurred on several occasions since the beginning of December, have prevented many goods from entering or leaving ports and caused supply problems in several sectors, according to Hautbois.

The workers of the ports and the docks do not have a specific regime but a hardship agreement linked to the collective agreement of their branch and which allows them to retire two or three years before the legal age of departure.

burs-esp / bfa / your

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