Tanger Med Port Expansion Challenges Spanish Shipping Hubs

Despite the investments, the ports of Valencia and Algeciras are far from reaching the capacity of Tanger Med, which continues its expansion in the strait. The EU "has financed the development of the port of Tanger Med and ports in Egypt which will now be more competitive than Algeciras thanks to the ETS," criticized José Manuel Tejedor, president of Comport, as quoted by Huffpost.

The Spanish government authorized on December 19 the launch of a tender for the extension works of the port of Valencia, for an amount of more than 1.6 billion euros, in order to compete with the port of Tanger Med. The tender includes the construction work of the container quay of the north terminal of the port of Valencia for an estimated value of 656.7 million euros.

Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), a subsidiary of the MSC group, will carry out the work and operate this rail terminal with a capacity of 5 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), which will be added to the current 7.5 million TEUs. With this terminal, which will be the largest in Spain, the port of Valencia will have a capacity equivalent to that of the port of Algeciras, it is assured.

"Algeciras has a problem and it is the lack of space to grow... If Valencia expands, it will end up taking part of the market," analyzed for his part Juan Ureta, president of the Propeller Club Algeciras.