Morocco Boosts Maritime Security Amid Heavy Shipping Traffic

The activity of the Moroccan maritime area, along the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, is very dense. "Several thousand types of ships pass through Moroccan waters" or 300 ships per day, at the level of the Strait of Gibraltar, either to go to one of the Moroccan ports, or to take a maritime route to other destinations," said the Minister of Equipment and Transport, in response to the question of maritime freight security. "Off the Moroccan coasts, the density of traffic, particularly of ships carrying dangerous goods, is one of the highest in the world at 24%," he stressed.

To better monitor and secure the nature of this traffic along the coasts, the State has set up a surveillance system consisting of a Maritime Traffic Service (VTS), an Automatic Identification System (AIS), a database and a National Data Center (LRIT). Thus, traffic monitoring makes it possible to prevent accidents and adapt responses to these accidents and possibly in the event of an accident, measure the economic, environmental and health consequences, says le 360.

Morocco also has a Moroccan Ship Information and Monitoring System "MARIS" aimed at preventively detecting ships that may pose a danger to human life at sea, navigation safety or environmental protection, to receive ship reports, especially in distress, to improve the responsiveness of maritime authorities in the event of a maritime accident... In addition, as part of the fight against pollution, Simulex exercises are organized to fight against oil pollution as required by the National Contingency Plan (PUN), revealed Abdelkader Amara.