Ferry Traffic to Morocco Surges 20% on Sète-Tangier Route

"Despite a complicated market environment, we are very satisfied with the results as we have carried more passengers than last year. From June to September 2023, 1.6 million people traveled on GNV ships, including 130,000 from France on the lines departing from Sète and bound for Morocco. On the latter, the trend is very positive with 20% more traffic compared to 2022," says Matteo Catani, CEO of the Italian shipping company Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV), in an interview with Midi Libre. According to him, the major efforts made in recent years to develop the GNV fleet have paid off. "After major efforts in recent years to develop our fleet and thus our transport capacities, we have entered a phase of consolidation of our markets," he adds.

The company is betting on the other Maghreb countries of Algeria and Tunisia. "Algeria is a particularly interesting destination because it has a large growth potential. This is why it is the subject of constant observation for us. Just like Tunisia, which we know well since we have been operating links there for more than 20 years from the Italian ports of Genoa, Civitavecchia and Palermo," he says, while stressing that GNV is not about to open new lines to North Africa from France. Matteo Catani nevertheless acknowledges the importance of the port of Sète for his company. "It is a very important infrastructure for our company, particularly for medium and long-distance maritime routes to the Maghreb. We strongly believe in its development. It is in this perspective that we have recently invested in a new reception area for our customers, inaugurated last June inside the maritime station," he explains.

Catani will also recall that GNV has been present in Sète for more than 10 years. "The adventure was launched in 2012 with the Fantastic, to Nador, and the Majestic, to Tangier. We have come a long way since then, to become the leading ferry company in the Mediterranean in terms of number of beds, with 31 links between seven countries," he recalls, also announcing the arrival of four new ferries currently under construction at the Chinese shipyard Guangzhou Shipyard International. The first one should be delivered as early as the end of 2024, while the others will follow every six months.