Andalusian Ports Unite to Compete with Morocco’s Tanger Med

The Spanish ports have committed to designing and implementing common strategies, following Maersk’s announcement to abandon the port of Algeciras in favor of Tanger Med. A decision that could encourage other shipping companies to prefer the Moroccan port to their detriment, they fear. This is why the heads of the seven Andalusian ports have deemed it appropriate to unite their forces to "confront" Tanger Med, reports El Debate.

"We are not in competition, we are collaborating, because our competitors are to the north of Morocco and to the north of Europe," said the president of the port of Cadiz, Teófila Martínez, during a forum on the Andalusian economy held in Almeria. In the same vein, the president of the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (Cadiz), Gerardo Landaluce, stressed the need to involve the central and regional administration to give a "definitive boost" to the materialization of port modernization projects and the improvement of their rail and road connectivity.

"We must work in a network. The localist approach is absolutely outdated. Customers are looking for complementarity in their logistics operations," added Landaluce. The port of Huelva aspires to become a "reference in Europe" in the production of "green hydrogen" or "green ethanol," assured its president, Alberto Santana, inviting the government to support this dynamic through tax incentives.

The collaboration "will make us much stronger," further commented the president of the port of Seville, Rafael Carmona. In the same vein, Carlos Rubio, the president of the port of Malaga, indicated that the Andalusian ports have moved from a "fierce" competition to a "cooperation" with initiatives aimed at having a rail platform. "We are trying to ensure that Andalusia becomes, from a logistics point of view, a first-class international platform."

The president of the port of Motril (Granada), José García Fuentes, announced that he is working on the creation of a marina with a commercial area, to attract cruise ships. "We are the closest port to the Spanish capital in the south of the peninsula," he noted. The port of Almeria, the second largest after that of Algeciras, is no exception. Rosario Soto, the president of the port authority, recalled that one million passengers transited through her port as part of the Marhaba Operation 2024, 200,000 more than in 2023, stressing the importance of this port for traffic to Morocco.