Tanger Med port officials expect this year to exceed its nominal processing capacity of 9 million containers, according to the port’s deputy general director, Rachid Houari, cited by the Reuters agency. Furthermore, security problems in the Red Sea, underlines this official, have had little impact on traffic growth.
Last year, the port retained its position as the leading port in the Mediterranean, with 8.61 million 20-foot containers (TEU), an increase of 13.4% compared to 2022. During the first quarter This year, tonnage increased by 14.9% to reach 33.3 million metric tons, while revenue increased by 18.3% to reach 1 billion dirhams.
“We have also progressed by a certain percentage in terms of containers”Rachid Houari told Reuters, specifying that the exact figure should be finalized at the end of the year. “Today, each terminal has traffic slightly above its theoretical capacity, which is why I think we will do a little better than nine million containers”, he said. And to add that “we want our port to operate at maximum productivity”noting that the TC1 terminal managed by APM TT handled 2.5 million TEUs last year, while its nominal capacity is 1.5 million TEUs.
Containers crossing the Red Sea represent only 25% of Tanger Med’s traffic
The drivers of the port’s growth are its location at the entrance to the Mediterranean, its connection with 180 ports and its partnerships with large shipowners and terminal operators such as Maersk, Hapag Loyd and CMA CGM, writes Reutres.
The port has often been mentioned as benefiting from the rerouting of container ships around Africa to avoid attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militias in the Red Sea. Containers crossing the Red Sea, however, only represent 25% of the port’s traffic, with many ships continuing to cross the Suez Canal despite the disruptions, notes Rachid Houari, who clarified that “most of the port’s traffic was destined for Africa, Europe and the Americas”.
Tanger Med is supported by industrial zones which are home to 1,200 companies employing 110,000 people and generating exports worth $15 billion last year, or 20% of all Moroccan exports, Reuters also indicates. Morocco plans to expand its industrial zones from 2,500 hectares to 5,000 hectares in order to attract more investors in high value-added industries, reports the agency, still citing the deputy general director of the port.
