MOROCCO’S TANGIER PORT TO BECOME MEDITERRANEAN’S LARGEST

Morocco opened new terminals at Tanger Med port last Thursday, allowing
it to surpass the Mediterranean’s largest ports Algeciras and Valencia in terms
of container capacity, and drive more investment and manufacturing to the
country.

Tanger Med, the biggest port in Africa with an annual volume of 3.5-million
20-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2018, will add six-million in capacity after
its extension worth €1.3-billion, port director Rachid Houari said in an interview.

Morocco hopes the port, which offers a platform for exports by local
production plants of French car makers such as Renault and Peugeot, will reach
volumes of 4.5-million TEUs by this year’s end like Algeciras in southern
Spain.

Authorities at the port on the western tip of the Mediterranean, just
across from the Spanish coast, hope it can build on its role as a calling point
for container shipping firms, especially between Asia, Africa and Europe.

“I hope we will add one million TEU of containers every year,”
said Houari. He declined to estimate future volumes, saying only the original
terminal had reached 3.5 million TEU in just six years.

“Fingers crossed we will fill it up in six years,” he said.

Some 90% of container volumes passing through the ports are transiting
to other destinations, he said. The biggest market, with a 40% share, is West
Africa, where Moroccan firms have heavily expanded to in recent years. Some 20%
will go to Europe and 10% to the Americas.

Morocco invested 1 billion euros in the first terminal which has created
some 6 000 jobs at the port and 70 000 others in a trade zone in the area, he
said.

The port is about 50 km west of Tangier, the main city in northern
Morocco, allowing space for expansion.

Tangier also has a ferry terminal carrying some 40 000 people a day in
the summer peak season as Moroccans living in Europe cross the Mediterranean.

The terminals are operated by APM Terminal, and owned by Denmark’s Maersk, Germany’s Eurogate and a local firm. https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/moroccos-tangier-port-to-become-mediterraneans-largest-2019-06-27/rep_id:4136