Tanger-Med [Morocco] The Biggest Port in Africa and the Mediterranean sea

[Redalinho]

I'd like to start a topic about morocco's new port of Tangier .It will be the biggest in aAfrica and the Mediterranean sea
It will employ 145 000 people at a first time (indirect and direct. it should be operational in the middle of 2007 and fully in 2009)
There are also alot of free zones with alot of companies.

This port also gets a very big airport and rail connection with the rest of the country and europe, one of the goals is to compete with the european ports, as a major stop in the mediteranean to the atlantic and the atlantic.

[Redalinho]

The «Tangier-Mediterranean» project is a strategic priority for the economic and social development of the North Morocco region.
It is part of the economic policy orienting Morocco towards exports, based on eight clearly identified export sectors, with particular emphasis on the free trade agreement with the European Union to be implemented between 2000 and 2012 ;
Completion of the «Tangier-Mediterranean» project will have important economic effects in terms of jobs, creation of added value and foreign investment.
Its particular position on the Straits of Gibraltar, at the crossing of two major maritime routes, and 15km from the European Union will enable it to serve a market of hundreds of millions of consumers through the industrial and commercial free zones which will be run by well-known private operators.
It will also win part of the strong growth market of container transshipment and become the leading hub for cereal transshipment, a facility which is non-existent in the north-west African region at present.
The project will be implemented, coordinated and managed by TMSA, a private company with public prerogatives, operating under an agreement with the State and interacting with the different ministries involved.
The port complex will have important economic effects in terms of jobs, creation of added value and foreign investment.
In addition to the economic effects of the operation of the port, there will be important effects resulting from its construction, particularly through foreign investments, and others from the operation of the free zones (direct and indirect added value, direct gains, jobs and foreign investment).

[Redalinho]

Morocco's government is building a major container port at the Strait of Gibraltar for domestic and transhipment traffic. A concession to operate Phase II for 30 years was awarded to BEL's client after a competitive tender process. It was won by Comanav, the national line, with their partners Eurogate, MSC and CMA CGM. We were involved in assisting with the preparation of the bid document.

The consortium faced a number of problems in presenting their case more effectively than the competition. To overcome this BEL prepared position papers and text for inclusion in the bid on a range of topics including

* An analysis of regional feeder, short sea and deep sea services
* International Conventions and Agreements
* The basis for establishment of, and modus operandi for, a Moroccan feeder shipping company
* Traffic volumes assured through operations of consortium members

[Redalinho]

[misterdz]

it will be the largest port of continant!
congratulation

[empersouf]

Very nice ofcourse! I hope it will bring a nice economic boost to the region.

[Redalinho]

[Redalinho]

[Redalinho]

[Muttie]

[Muttie]

Tangier sees profit on its doorstep

By Andrew England in Tangier

Published: February 16 2008 02:41 | Last updated: February 16 2008 02:41

Five shore cranes stand ready over the Strait of Gibraltar as a tug tows a huge block of cement out to sea to take its place in the construction of a new port. To the north, distant passenger boats and the jutting shoreline of southern Spain appear through the haze.

The scene is calm for now but it is here in the northern tip of Morocco that the African state is investing much of its hopes to boost industry, create more than 100,000 jobs and diversify an economy overly dependent on the ups and downs of rain-fed agriculture.

After years of discussion, the country is finally putting in place the infrastructure to take advantage of its proximity to Europe with a port complex 40km east of Tangier, including associated logistics and industrial zones. The plan, known as the Tangier Med project, was launched in 2002 but is now gathering momentum. The first of the new port’s terminals opened last July and a second is scheduled to begin operating this summer, giving it a capacity of 3.5m 20ft container equivalents (teu) per year.

The concept is to use the port’s location – just 14km from Spain at the shortest distance between Africa and Europe – to attract shipping traffic that flows between east and west, passing through the Strait of Gibraltar. By leveraging off the port, the hope is to turn the region into a transit and logistics hub; a zone designed to attract international manufacturers to build and export, where goods moving between Asia, Europe and the US can be packed or assembled

It is one of the largest and most ambitious projects launched in the country with the ultimate goal of bringing development to Morocco’s northern region. This is an area of high unemployment that has been neglected since colonial days. Rather than industry, it has garnered a reputation for smuggling, the drugs trade and the trafficking of illegal immigrants.

Tangier contributes just 10 per cent of Morocco’s gross domestic product, in spite of its location on the doorstep of Europe, while Casablanca, on the Atlantic, contributes 35 per cent and handles about 90 per cent of the country’s shipping container traffic.

“Once you have the platform plugged into the territory, the territory has connectivity ... with the world,” says Said Elhadi, chairman of the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA), the government body overseeing the project.

TMSA can already claim one high-profile success. In September, Renault and Nissan announced a €600m (£449m, $880m) project to build a factory in Tangier Med’s industrial zone with the capacity to produce 200,000 cars a year from 2010, and eventually up to 400,000 a year.

The significance of the deal goes beyond the construction of a factory – it has put down a marker with which TMSA hopes to lure new business and build up the automotive industry, a priority sector for the authorities.

“We hear people talking about Morocco who didn’t in the past,” Mr Elhadi says. “It’s a flag that says, ‘Hey, here in Morocco we can do industry’.”

To back its plans, the government is investing about €2bn in the port, the zones and associated highways and railways, Mr Elhadi says.

A further €1.4bn – with about half from the government and the remainder from operators – will be spent on increasing the port’s capacity with an additional 5m teu. That project, Tangier Med II, was announced in April and TMSA is in negotiations with Maersk, CMA/CGM, and MSC – which are already involved in Tangier Med I – to operate a terminal dedicated to shipping lines.

It is hoped construction of Tangier Med II will begin at the end of this year, opening in 2012 and reaching full capacity in 2015. With an overall capacity of 8.5m teu, it would be the largest port in the Mediterranean, according to officials.

Yet much still needs to be done. Tangier, like other parts of the country, suffers from housing shortages and infrastructure problems, particularly with transport. Ensuring workers will be willing and able to migrate to the area will be crucial.

“At this moment Tan Med is below potential to attract as much trade as it would like and ensuring that its services are cost-effective and competitive,” said Jose Lopez Calix, lead economist for Morocco at the World Bank.

“The city of Tangier has many pressing challenges ahead, particularly in the areas of housing capacity and urban transportation. And labour scarcity, at all levels, is also an important issue to solve.”

Government officials acknowledge there are critical issues to be addressed but argue that roads and railways are being built to support the project, with a new urban centre planned near the investment zone and 200,000 housing units in Tangier.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

[Muttie]

Some more Tanger port news

Horizon Tangiers Terminals (HTTSA), a part of the Horizon Group, is starting construction of a strategic bulk oil storage facility at the new Tangiers Mediterranean port of Morocco. Today, HTL announced it has awarded the EPC construction contract to the construction division of Bateman Litwin, a leading provider of innovative turnkey solutions for the global oil and gas sector.

The 90-Million-Euro terminal, to be built in two phases, will ensure a steady supply of bunker products to vessels calling at the Tangier Med port and will provide an important route for diesel and petrol for the Moroccan market. Phase 1, costing approximately 70 Million Euros, will consist of 370,000 cubic metres of storage and is expected to be completed by mid-2009.

“To meet projected demand, we are also looking at an immediate expansion to reach 500,000 cubic metres of storage at an additional investment of about 20 Million Euros”, said Saeed Khoory, ENOC Group Chief Executive.

Horizon Tangiers Terminal, a consortium of Horizon Terminals Limited, an ENOC subsidiary, Kuwait-based Independent Petroleum Group (IPG) and Morocco’s Afriquia SMDC, were awarded the concession to build and operate the bulk fuels terminal by the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA) in 2006.

“With its strategic location at the entrance to the Mediterranean and excellent connections to Europe, Tangier Med port is set to emerge as a major bunkering hub and refuelling port in the global ship movement. HTTL will help position Tangier Med as the logistics hub for Europe and will provide cheaper fuel to North Morocco”, said Yusr Sultan, CEO of the Horizon Group, while announcing the awarding of the contract in Morocco.

He further added that the terminal will provide extensive employment and career opportunities to Moroccans.

“Relations between Morocco and the Gulf region have been growing significantly in recent years. Dubai-based Emaar has made significant investments in Morocco’s real estate sector, and Dubai World, another of Dubai’s monumental institutions, has been advising TMSA on its proposed free zones”, Sultan added, expressing HTTL’s appreciation of the ongoing investment and development drive in Morocco.

ABOUT ENOC
Established in 1993 as a wholly-owned company of the Government of Dubai, ENOC aims to promote the interests of its shareholders through the development of further downstream and upstream activities in the oil and gas sector and beyond and to encourage the economic diversification of Dubai and the rest of the UAE.

ENOC actively participates in an increasingly broad range of business ventures. Its joint ventures with major international companies allow partners to pool their technology, know-how and expertise along with their resources to further their commercial success.

Since its inception, ENOC has been guided by its philosophy of quality and professional management based on modern business concepts for commercial success and sustainable growth. Today it is poised to engineer a new and challenging period of growth and diversity.

ENOC’s mission is to be the reliable Energy Partner of Choice in each sector in which it operates.

[Muttie]

Renault - Nissan building a huge complex @ Tanger Med

Morocco and Renault-Nissan sign final agreements on Tangiers manufacturing complex

21st January 2008

The Renault-Nissan Alliance will start work on the manufacturing complex next month, following the signing of agreements with the Kingdom of Morocco on 18th January. The new complex, which will include an assembly plant, will be located on a 300-hectare site inside the Tangiers Mediterranean Special Economic Zone and will use the TangerMed port platform.

Once completed, the site will have an operating capacity of 400,000 vehicles per year (200,000 vehicles per year from 2010), providing the Renault-Nissan Alliance with one of the largest manufacturing complexes in the Mediterranean. Representing a global capacity investment of more than €600 million, the complex will create 6,000 direct jobs and 30,000 indirect jobs.

The site will extend Renault's manufacturing system for the production of competitive vehicles derived from the B0 Platform (Logan platform) and Nissan's system for the production of new-generation light commercial vehicles. On December 1, 2007, Edouard Armalet was appointed General Manager of the Renault Tanger Méditerranée project.

[Muttie]

Tanger port construction pics:

[Slaoui]

Tanger-Med Maritime Terminal

Deux millions de passagers et 700.000 camions. C'est le trafic annuel attendu sur le nouveau port de Tanger, au Maroc, après l'ouverture d'un terminal dédiés aux ferries en 2009. La construction de cette infrastructure, dont le coût est évalué à 200 millions de dollars, a été confiée à un consortium réunissant le Français Bouygues, l'Italien Saipem et le Marocain Bymaro. Le projet prévoit la réalisation de deux digues de 1.2 et 1.3 kilomètres, le dragage d'un chenal d'accès de 13 mètres de profondeur, 8 postes et 20 hectares de terre-pleins.

[ovem]

wow! its really huge and modern but... come on guys! 2 mill passengers is not the biggest in the mediterranean sea... Piraeus Port has 19 million passengers per yearcand its the 3rd largest in the world and 1st in Europe!!!

[Muttie]

Its about cargo, its biggest in cargo transport not passenger transport

[ovem]

oh. i see

[entreact333]

[Slaoui]

TangerMed: Le Fades finance les travaux d’extension

1,5 milliard de DH, c’est le montant d’un contrat de prêt signé vendredi dernier avec le Fonds arabe pour le développement (Fades). Cette enveloppe devra servir à financer les travaux d’extension du port dans le cadre du projet TangerMed II. Ce port de 5 millions de conteneurs de capacité devra entrer en service à l’horizon 2012. Son coût total est estimé à 15 milliards de DH.