While the kingdom has just launched an international call for tenders for the management of its brand new shipyard in Casablanca, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Korean giant in the sector, emerges as a major candidate.
Morocco is making a very ambitious bet in the maritime sector. With its new shipyard in Casablanca, the largest on the African continent, the kingdom wants to capture a share of European and African demand, while reducing its dependence abroad for the maintenance of its military fleet. With an area of 52 acres, the site mobilized an investment of $ 300 million and is part of an industrial logic that recalls that of the automobile – a sector where Morocco has been able to become a reference platform.
It is precisely this success that the National Agency for Ports (ANP) seeks to reproduce. In an international call for tenders launched in early April, she invites experienced operators to offer projects not only integrating the operation of the site, but also, potentially, naval construction activities. One of the most prominent candidates is the South Korean Hyundai Heavy Industries, which operates the world’s largest shipyard in Ulsan. The Moroccan Minister of Industry, Ryad Mezzour, went there to explore the possibilities of cooperation.
A strategic site to strengthen the autonomy of the kingdom
The new Casablanca complex includes a 244 -meter RADOUB basin, a lifting platform of 9,000 tonnes, a secondary pool equipped with a 450 -ton portal crane, as well as more than 800 meters of development quays. It is designed to accommodate merchant ships, industrial fishing, but also military. Until now, Morocco had to send its military buildings abroad for their maintenance, an expensive operation in currencies. Thanks to this infrastructure, he will be able to carry out these operations on his own soil.
According to the Spanish newspaper “El Confidencial”, Hyundai is among the favorites alongside the French Naval Group. The Spanish media also believes that Navantia, Iberian public enterprise, is unlikely to prevail, the Moroccan site having been thought of as an alternative to saturated facilities in southern Europe, especially in Spain.
Towards Morocco-Korean naval industrial cooperation?
The question now arises: is Morocco ready to go beyond a simple operating contract? Hyundai, through its experience and industrial capacities, could become a reference partner in a high potential naval sector. The visit of the Minister Mezzour in Korea, which also included the automobile factories of Hyundai Motor Group, testifies to a desire to diversify collaborations with the Korean conglomerate, already active in the rail via Hyundai Rotem, which prepares the opening of a factory in Morocco with technology transfer.
By focusing on Hyundai, Morocco could initiate a dynamic similar to that of the automobile, by gradually installing the production and assembly capacities of ships on its territory, in particular for the needs of trade and defense. This shipyard could then not only become a maintenance center, but also a future export platform for Africa.
A strategic decision in gestation
The allocation of the Casablanca site has a major industrial and geopolitical dimension. If Morocco chooses to trust Hyundai, it will not only be for its technical expertise, but also to establish a wider cooperation with Korea in the naval, automotive and rail areas. An alliance that could redraw the naval industrial landscape in the region.
