Tanger Med Port Authority

THE LEADING CONTAINER PORT IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND AFRICA

The Leading Container Port in the Mediterranean and Africa

Tanger Med Port Complex ranks as one of the world’s best port complexes, and is viewed as one of the Mediterranean’s most essential hubs

Tanger Med Port Complex aims to develop an efficient and truly integrated port platform around the complementary activities of trans-shipment, importexport, and value-added logistics.

The complex consists of:

• Tanger Med 1 Port, which includes two container terminals, a rail terminal, a hydrocarbon terminal, a general cargo terminal, and a new vehicles terminal.

• Tanger Med 2 Port, which includes two container terminals.

• The Passenger and Ro-Ro Port, which includes the access and border inspection zones, the passenger and truck loading docks, the regulation zones, and the ferry terminal.

• The Logistics Zone.

• Tanger Med Port Centre.

In January 2010, Tanger Med Port Authority was transferred by decree-law all the missions and public prerogatives related to the management and development of Tanger Med Port Complex.

The Tanger Med Port Authority focuses its missions on the management and development of infrastructures, the coordination and animation of the port community, and guarantees the reliability and performance of services provided to the port platform’s clients.

• Construction and maintenance of the port infrastructure (dikes, dredging and docking works).

• Development of the port complex’s activities and capacities.

• Licensing authority or leading the live operation of port terminals and activities of public service nature.

• Organisation and regulation of relations and exchanges between the actors of the port community.

• Promotion of the Tanger Med Port Complex as a whole.

• A port police function through the captaincy in charge of the safety and security of the complex.

Apart from the Passenger and Ro-Ro port, the main activities of Tanger Med Port Complex are entrusted to renowned national and international private operators who, under concession contracts, invest in the superstructures and equipment of the port and provide services that meet the international standards of quality, safety and security.

Please introduce Tanger Med Port Complex, its activities, and its key figures during 2022?

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Tanger Med Port Complex is a global logistics hub located on the Strait of Gibraltar, connected to over 180 worldwide ports, providing handling capacities for nine million containers, seven million passengers, 700,000 trucks, and one million vehicles.

The port enjoys a strategic geographic location, on the main East-West and North-South maritime routes, with a distribution of trans-shipment traffic for Africa, Europe, and the US. Hence, this unique position allows maritime liners to trans-ship their vessels with zero deviation and offer them competitive options to optimise transit times.

On the Mediterranean and on the Strait of Gibraltar, Tanger Med Port Complex plays a crucial role as a major container

trans-shipment platform.

Tanger Med Port Complex also serves as a maritime bridge, connecting Africa and Europe, separated with only 14 kilometres (km).

In 2022, Tanger Med Port Complex consolidated its position as the leading container port in the Mediterranean and in Africa, with 7.6 million TEUs of containers handled, an increase of six percent compared to 2021, and nearly 108 million tonnes of goods handled, an increase of six percent compared to 2021. Concurrently, we recorded close to 14,000 calls from the main maritime alliances, including 961 mega ships corresponding to an increase of 14 percent compared to last year.

What is it that makes Tanger Med Port Complex a leading port complex in Africa and the Mediterranean?

• A strategic location: The port is located on the Strait of Gibraltar, the second busiest global trade route after the Strait of Malacca, with zero deviation. The strait witnesses the annual passage of 100,000 vessels, making it a crucial nodal point for global trade on maritime routes connecting East to West and North to South.

Mr Hassan Abkari, Managing Director of Tanger Med Port Authority

• State of the art port facilities: The port offers state of the art infrastructure, a draft that can accommodate the world’s largest ships, and is capable of handling large capacities for container traffic, trucking, hydrocarbons, vehicles, and passengers.

• Operators’ confidence: Tanger Med Port Complex manages to develop and maintain a strong ecosystem, bringing together all stakeholders to ensure smooth and efficient port operations: harbourmaster, pilotage, terminal operations, etc. This ecosystem allows us to build trust among its clients by strengthening its partnerships with its customers, by meeting their expectations and needs daily, and continually offering high standards of productivity and competitiveness.

• Level of productivity achieved: Port terminals operate at very high levels of productivity by achieving international handling records, which is explained by a continuous increase in the skills of the teams who work daily. The digitisation initiated by the port to ensure optimised maritime calls, paperless import-export operations, efficient management of the flow of goods inside the port, the continuous traceability of operations are so many assets that make it possible to further support those achievements. Recent rankings published by World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence within their Container Port Performance Index report have placed Tanger Med Port Complex as the highest ranked port in the Africa/Europe region. This assessment of port efficiency is based on the number of port hours per call, starting from the time a vessel reaches the port up until it unberths and leaves the port.

• A port complex integrated with an industrial platform: Tanger Med Industrial Platform constitutes an industrial hub for more than 1,200 companies representing major industrial players from China, Japan, Europe, and America with a business volume of USD$13 billion in 2022 in various sectors such as automotive, aeronautics, logistics, textiles and trade. Backed onto the port complex, the industrial platform comprises six Activity Zones and a network of industrial and logistics parks planned according to the best international standards and benchmarks, offering competitiveness for operators, a one stop shops and world-class infrastructure.

What is the strategic part the port plays in North African trade?

Tanger Med Port Complex has emerged as a global maritime and logistics hub, boasting a strategic location at the crossroads of major maritime routes for the world’s largest maritime alliances: M2, OCEAN ALLIANCE, and The Alliance. Since its inception, Tanger Med Port Complex has positioned itself as a major trans-shipment platform for intercontinental flows and distribution to Africa, which accounts for 40 percent of the container traffic handled. The presence of major global players in the maritime, logistics, and industrial sectors is a testament to the significance of Tanger Med’s choice. Large maritime players such as Maersk, CMA-CGM, major logistics players such as DHL, CEVA Logistics, Nippon Express, DECAHTLON, and major industrial players such as Varroc, Hands Corporation, Valeo, and Marelli are in the Tanger Med industrial and port complex.

Looking ahead, what are your key priorities and ambitions for the coming year?

Commitment to strengthening its partnerships and pursuing productivity and competitiveness objectives.

Tanger Med Port Complex confirms again its leadership in the Mediterranean and Africa and consolidates its position as a key hub for global maritime alliances led respectively by Maersk Line, CMA CGM and Hapag Lloyd. With a capacity of more than nine million containers, Tanger Med Port Complex aims to integrate into the top ranking of the top 20 platforms worldwide.

Tanger Med Port Complex will keep offering excellent services to maritime lines: comprehensive infrastructure and technology, ships calling in the best conditions, excellent productivity of terminals and operators, world-class services to ships, solutions adapted to their needs (bunkering services, ship handling services etc., port call optimisation...), and finally, highly qualified harbourmaster and pilotage teams.

Tanger Med Port Complex is also committed to enhancing its import-export solutions by launching dedicated zones for freight handling. This initiative aims to support the anticipated growth in freight volumes in the coming years and provide greater logistics competitiveness to operators.

At the same time, it will continue to develop as a major logistics hub, strengthening world to world flows and attracting new global operators and logisticians, particularly in Africa.

Tanger Med Port Complex will also enhance the attractiveness of the port-backed logistics area. This area developed over two hundred hectares, is home to worldrenowned logisticians and multinationals such as DHL, DACHSER, Nippon Express, Ceva Logistics, GEFCO, Adidas, TE Connectivity, Decathlon, Texla, Emirates Logistics, etc. These operators benefit from the area’s competitive advantages, its proximity to the port and its maritime connections to more than 180 ports worldwide.

As we move to a post-COVID-19 world, Tanger Med Port Complex will bolster its competitive strategic positioning in the reconfiguring of global value chains by integrating Morocco into the logistics corridors of the EuroMediterranean area.

www.tangermedport.com