The year 2023 was exceptional for Tanger Med. The port exceeded 8 million twenty-foot equivalent containers (TEU) for the first time, ranking 19th among the world’s container ports, according to the annual ranking of the French firm Alphaliner, writes the French daily, Le Monde.
In an environment crushed by the domination of Chinese ports, where the number one, Shanghai, totals nearly 50 million TEUs, Tanger Med even achieved one of the best growths in the top 20, up +13.4%. compared to 2022, indicates Le Monde in an article published in its weekend delivery.
Tanger Med is one step ahead of its competitors
Its traffic having more than doubled in five years, the Moroccan port now rivals Long Beach (California), Laem Chabang (Thailand) and Kaohsiung (Taiwan). The results of the start of the year give cause for optimism. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, the overall tonnage handled at Tanger Med increased by 10%, underlines the French newspaper which cites Rachid Houari, deputy director of the port authority.
The reconfiguration of maritime routes, with the rerouting of container ships towards the Cape of Good Hope, has congested ports in the western Mediterranean, including that of Barcelona, one of the most affected. But Tanger Med, the main transshipment hub in the basin for goods from China, “seems to be a step ahead of its competitors,” assures Peter Sand, chief analyst at the Norwegian firm Xeneta.
€3.3 billion to double the capacity of the ports of Algeciras and Valencia
The frantic competition between Tanger Med and other container ports in the Western Mediterranean could, according to the publication, be revived in the coming years.
“Overtaken by the Moroccan port in 2020, Algeciras, which in 2023 handled less than 5 million TEUs, will receive 1.7 billion euros to develop, the Spanish Minister of Transport announced in February. Ditto for Valencia (Spain), which will pocket 1.6 billion euros for a new container terminal. Objective: double their capacities,” reports the newspaper.
The Red Sea crisis disrupts maritime traffic
Furthermore, Le Monde, which takes stock of the state of global maritime trade, recalls that six months after the start of the crisis in the Red Sea, freight prices are soaring, routes are lengthening and several Mediterranean ports find themselves saturated.
Houthi attacks are forcing shipping companies to divert their ships from the Suez Canal to the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa, extending journeys between Europe and Asia by more than 21,000 kilometers. notes the French daily which also relays data from the PortWatch site, managed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to which “between 15 and 35 container ships passed through the Suez Canal every day, at the beginning of May, compared to 70 to 80 at the end of November 2023, a fall by half.”
