Rachid El Hawari, Deputy Director General of the Tangier Med Port in northern Morocco, said that the Moroccan port is expected to exceed its nominal operating capacity of about 9 million containers during this year.
In an interview with Reuters, he confirmed that the security challenges in the Red Sea had little impact on container movement.
Last year, the port maintained its superiority over all Mediterranean ports after handling the equivalent of 8.61 million 20-foot containers, an increase of 13.4% compared to 2022.
Official data showed an increase in the total container load that visited the port in the first quarter of this year by about 14.9%, reaching 33.3 million tons, in addition to an increase in revenues of 18.3%, reaching one billion Moroccan dirhams ($100 million).
Growth factors
“We achieved some growth in the number of containers as well,” Al-Hawari said, adding that the year-end data will accurately show the number of containers that passed through the port.
He added, “All the port’s stations achieved a slight increase over their nominal capacity, and that is why I see that we will slightly exceed the equivalent of 9 million containers,” and continued, “We want the port to operate at its maximum capacity.”
Al-Hawari stated that the most prominent growth factors in the port’s activities are its location at the entrance to the busy Mediterranean Sea, its connection to about 180 ports, and its partnerships with major shipowners and port operators such as Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM.
The port is often referred to as one of the beneficiaries of the rerouting of container ships to the route that passes around Africa to avoid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
Al-Hawari explained that the containers that were crossing the Red Sea represent about 25% of those that frequent the port, and that many ships are still crossing the Suez Canal despite the turmoil, pointing out that the bulk of truck traffic in the port comes from trade in Africa, Europe, and North and South America.
The port’s importance is increasing with the presence of industrial zones that include about 1,200 companies that employ approximately 110,000 people and produced exports worth $15 billion last year, or the equivalent of 20% of total Moroccan exports.
Al-Hawari said that the port plans to expand its industrial areas from 2,500 hectares to 5,000 hectares to attract more investors in high-value-added industries.
