Algeciras Free Zone Project Advances, Boosting Spanish Port’s Competitiveness

The project, announced in November 2018, has seen a clear acceleration since 2019. This free zone covers 13 hectares adjacent to the Spanish port, L’Economiste reports, adding that the marketing of the land began last month.

The zone, albeit reduced (compared to the network of free zones built on the other side of the Strait, in northern Morocco), is of real interest to the Spanish port, with attractive conditions to attract new operators, while also offering new services for the current ones, with the strait representing a strategic framework with its global maritime connections, notes the same source.

The informal trade operators based in Ceuta will undoubtedly be the main beneficiaries of this free zone and its first customers. They will be able to legally export their products to Morocco through the ports of Algeciras and Tangier Med, and thus supply the Moroccan markets with products traditionally derived from "smuggling".

The free zone will also allow Spanish operators to import, rework various types of products to re-export them to markets not included in the framework of the European Union treaty. With the Cádiz Free Zone and its Algeciras enclosure, Spain is thus embarking on its eighth installation of this kind, concludes the same source.