A general view of the port of Marseille, southern France yesterday after workers started a national 24-hour strike to protest against government’s plan to reform ports.

Paris: A strike by French dockers paralysed freight and transport and an oil terminal at France’s biggest port of Marseille yesterday and caused severe disruptions at Le Havre, the second busiest, operators said.

The strike was called by the main CGT union in all of France’s seven ports to protest the privatisation of services launched last year. The GPMM port authority said freight services at Marseille-Fos port were paralysed since late Thursday and that only one of the two oil terminals was running.

“As far as we know, participation in the strike is 100 percent,” said a spokeswoman. Ferry services were not however affected.

At Le Havre, most of the 1,800 dockers went on strike, causing major disruptions to freight services but the oil terminal and ferry liaisons to Britain were running, said the GPMH port authority.

Pascal Galeote, head of the CGT dockers’ union in Marseille, said the changes to operations under a 2008 law were “catastrophic for all of the ports.”

“In Marseille, we are not spared. Private operators are unable to offer long-term guarantees to employees who are being transferred” from state management during tough economic times, he said.