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Morocco Upgrades Maritime Surveillance in Strait of Gibraltar Amid Rising Traffic
Wednesday 27 November 2019, by
To better monitor the Moroccan coasts, the facilities of the Maritime Traffic Surveillance Center (CSTM) in Tangier will undergo an upgrade. To this end, the Ministry of Equipment has just launched a tender whose overall cost is estimated at 16 million dirhams.
It is for the Moroccan authorities to proceed with the complete modernization of this center which controls the annual traffic of some 170,000 boats. The computer park dating from 2009 is also affected by this upgrade, reports L’Économiste.
For the Ministry of Equipment, given the sensitivity of the area with the annual passage of hundreds of thousands of boats of all types through the Strait of Gibraltar, the acquisition of new equipment is essential.
The Maritime Traffic Surveillance Center in Tangier indeed ensures full and continuous coverage of the entire Strait area. According to the same source, it consists of three stations: the main station at Ras Parrot, located about 15 km from Tangier on the road to Ksar Sghir, the remote station at Ras Cires, located in Dalia, (about 40 km from Tangier, near the Tanger Med port), and a relay station 700 m from the main station whose role is to ensure the interconnection between the two sites.
By deciding to modernize the CSTM facilities, the Moroccan authorities intend to further strengthen surveillance along the coasts of the Strait.