Tanger Med: A vision built into the sea

Today, 3 million containers and almost 400,000 vehicles are hand­led there.

 

A decade after it first started operations, the port of ­Tangier continues to grow. A recent visit by the ITJ revealed that symbiosis with firms is one of the factors ensuring success.

 

A mere 15 years ago the waves lapped the deserted, rocky Moroccan shores around 40 km east of Tangier. Today, 3 million containers and almost 400,000 vehicles are hand­led there – in the port of Tanger Med. The gateway commenced operations ten years ago, and is the most striking symbol of the rather dynamic development that has washed over Morocco’s northern-most region in the past few years.

 

The Al Muraykh, operated by the Kuwaiti shipping line UASC, is approximately 400 m long, which makes it one of the largest containerships in the world. Moored in the port of Tangier, however, you could almost say it looks small. For any European who buys something locally from the sports goods retailer Décathlon; drives a Renault car; or flies in an Airbus A321neo – he is probably using a product that has passed through the port of Tanger Med.

 

Plenty of praise for Morocco

 

Mehdi Tazi Riffi, the CEO of the economic development corporation Tanger Med Special Agency (­TMSA), is modest when he says that “actually, it simply made perfect sense to build a port here. 100,000 vessels sail through the Strait of Gibraltar every year, after all.” There is no need to be ­modest, however – the rapid development in and around Tangier can probably only be compared with recent infrastructure projects completed in China. The overall scheme does not cover only the port, but new industries, suppliers and transportation options for goods as well as passengers too.

 

Take the French aviation enterprise Daher, for example. The company has been present in Tangier’s free-trade zone since 2001, but its activities in Morocco have really taken off in the past few years. “We started out with 50 employees in Morocco, today we have 500,” as Daher Groupe Maroc CEO Lionel Vigier told the ITJ. The region’s proximity to Europe (the port is a mere 14 km from the Spanish coast); political stability; state support; optimal cost / benefit ratios; they all contribute to making this an ideal location for Vigier. TE Connectivity, Siemens, Renault: every company that works there cites almost the same points. Their products all flow through the port of Tanger Med and enable it to flourish. Read more

 

 

Source: ITJ

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