Spanish Ports Face 50% Container Traffic Loss as Moroccan Rivals Surge

Data from the State Ports shows that Spanish ports have already lost one million TEUs of international transshipment between 2018 and August 2023, of which about 950,000 TEUs from the ports of Valencia, Algeciras and Barcelona, a reduction of 10% compared to the 9.26 million TEUs of transshipment in 2018, reports El Mercantil, noting that this activity currently represents 51% of the total container traffic in Spain.

According to experts, the decline in this activity is justified, among other things, by "the shift of transshipments in the western Mediterranean from European ports to those in North Africa." According to a study by the consulting firm ALG, "the unused capacity for container traffic in the western Mediterranean will increase from the current 11.6 million TEUs to 28.5 million TEUs in 2035." Experts note a capacity of 27.3 million TEUs between Morocco (two million at the Danish APM terminal in Tanger Med and 12 million in Nador), Algeria (8.5 million TEUs in Djen Djen and Cherchell) and Tunisia (4.8 million TEUs in Enfidha).

"The future of international traffic volume in the western Mediterranean European ports is threatened due to the strong competition from the quay terminals of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia," the experts argue, estimating "a 50% loss of transshipment activity in Spain," or 4.4 million TEUs out of the 8.8 handled in 2022. According to one of them, Tanger Med is "irrefutable proof" of the attractiveness of North African ports. Launched in July 2007, the Moroccan port closed the year 2022 with a traffic of 7.6 million TEUs. Today, it has two terminals with a capacity of 6.5 million TEUs.

The North African ports and Tanger Med in particular "are more competitive in terms of price, as their labor costs are lower," explains an expert, adding that "the estimated difference between a call at a Spanish transshipment port or at Tanger Med is 10 million euros per ship and per year." Furthermore, industries are increasingly relocating to Morocco and Turkey, notes another expert, citing the example of Inditex which, after the Covid-19 health crisis, "is looking for suppliers in Galicia itself, in Portugal, in Morocco and in Turkey."