Tanger Med should exceed its nominal capacity of 9 million twenty-foot equivalent containers (TEU) this year, according to its deputy director Rachid Houari. A new record which will allow the port complex, the 4th most competitive container port in the world, to confirm its leadership in Africa and the Mediterranean.
Tanger Med is expected to exceed its nominal processing capacity of nine million twenty-foot equivalent containers (TEUs) this year. This is what his deputy director Rachid Houari revealed to the Reuters agency. “Now each terminal is doing a little more traffic than the theoretical capacity, that’s why I think we will do a little better than nine million containers,” he said.
According to the same source, tensions in the Red Sea had had little impact on traffic growth. “Containers crossing the Red Sea represent only 25% of the port’s traffic, and many ships still cross the Suez Canal despite the disruptions,” she stressed, specifying that most of the port’s traffic is with Africa, Europe and the Americas.
Fourth most competitive container port in the world
Remember that the port complex of the city of the strait had handled 8,617,410 TEU containers in 2023, up 13.4% compared to 2022, thus confirming its leading position in Africa and the Mediterranean, ahead of the Spanish ports of Valencia and Algeciras. Great performances which allowed Tanger Med to be the fourth most competitive container port in the world, according to the recent report “The Container Port performance index 2023” published by the World Bank and Standard & Poor’s Global Market Intelligence.
Read also: Tanger Med: more than 8.6 million containers processed in 2023, 4 years ahead of targets
The year 2024 is also off to a good start since the Tangier port handled a volume of 33.2 million tonnes of goods during the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 14.9% compared to the same period of the year. last year, according to figures published by Tanger Med Port Authority (TMPA). Its turnover also increased by 18.3% during the first three months of the current year to exceed one billion dirhams.
In addition to port activity, Tanger Med, which has industrial zones which attract 1,200 companies employing 110,000 people, wishes to extend these spaces “from 2,500 to 5,000 hectares to attract more investors in high value-added industries”. after Rachid Houari. Companies whose exports had reached a value of $15 billion in 2023, or 20% of Morocco’s overall exports last year.
