Morocco’s Tanger Med Port Becomes Mediterranean Shipping Powerhouse

The launch, in June 2019, of Tanger Med II, notes L’Économiste, marks a new era for the Moroccan port sector. It allows the kingdom to establish itself in maritime transport in the Mediterranean and to capture a large market share on the Atlantic.

The statistics are eloquent. Tanger Med II means an additional 6 million standard containers, tripling the total capacity of the Tanger Med port complex to 9 million. The new port required more than 26 billion DH in investments, half of which came from public funds. It thus becomes the first port in Africa and enters the top 50 of global terminals. The Moroccan port dethroned Algeciras, which was the largest port in the region, even though the latter is considering an expansion program.

Tanger Med II has gantry cranes manufactured by the Chinese ZPMC, one of the market references, with a double cabin and a total height exceeding 65 meters. With a draft of 18 meters, the terminal can receive and handle the largest current container ships. It has gantry cranes, real mammoths of 105 tons and 144 meters high which constitute the ultimate in the field, remotely controllable equipment, etc.

"Such an achievement was only possible thanks to a highly qualified and talented Moroccan team, which was able to quickly learn what is needed to operate a terminal with unprecedented technological advances," notes Hans Jacobs, CEO of APM Terminals Medport Tangier, the manager of the entire complex. And L’Économiste specifies that it is an ultra-modern terminal at the forefront of technology, which combines time savings and work safety, and allows Morocco to truly establish itself in the port sector.