CMA CGM Buys Into Much-Anticipated Moroccan Transshipment Port

 

French carrier CMA CGM has taken a stake in Morocco's new Nador West Med container port, a coveted greenfield development which will add millions of TEU of much-needed transshipment capacity for the European and Mediterranean market. 

For ocean carriers, the Red Sea crisis has effectively turned the Mediterranean into a large bay - open at the Atlantic end, closed at the Suez Canal end. Until late last year, almost all east-west routes passed through the canal for cost efficiency and speed, but carriers have now rerouted virtually all boxship traffic around the Cape of Good Hope. This has created more demand for transshipment capacity at the west end of the Mediterranean, and Morocco is ready to supply it. 

For years, Morocco's government has been mulling a second transshipment hub to complement its existing megaport, Tanger Med. In 2016, it began construction on a new multipurpose harbor at the Bay of Betoya, about 120 nautical miles east of the Strait of Gibraltar. In June, with the harbor largely completed, the Moroccan government awarded domestic terminal operator Marsa Maroc a 25-year, $200 million concession to develop and run the 175-acre phase one of the port's container complex. 

Marsa Maroc has now announced a partnership with CMA CGM to develop half of that lease area jointly. The Moroccan firm retains a 51 percent stake in the project, and together they will invest $280 million by 2027. The revised development plan increases the number of RTGs and STS cranes on site, yielding 1.2 million TEU per year of capacity out of 2,500 feet of quayside space. With 59 feet of depth alongside, the port has all the water it needs to accommodate the Megamax-24 boxships that serve Asia-Europe tradelanes. 

CMA CGM Group has 1,300 employees in Morocco, and it owns a terminal in Casablanca and 40 percent of a terminal at Tanger Med. With La Méridionale, CMA CGM also operates a ferry service between Marseille and Tangier-Med.

Morocco's abundant solar resources make it a powerhouse in renewable energy, and CMA CGM noted that Nador West Med could become a green bunkering hub in future years. 

"Our ambition is to support the country's development, particularly in the forward-looking sectors of logistics and alternative energies," said CMA CGM chief Rodolphe Saade in a statement.