Tanger Med port has joined the list of the 20 finest ports in the world, ranking 19th out of 500 container ports, in the most recent rankings released by nautical analytics company Alphaliner for March.
The port of Tanger Med had planned to enter the ranking of the world’s top 20 ports in 2027, but four years ahead of schedule it has now overtaken major ports such as New York’s and Hamburg’s, which occupy the 21st and 22nd places respectively.
Morocco has become the first African nation to rank among the elite group of 12 nations that are included in the list of the top 20 ports globally, along with China, Singapore, Korea, the United States, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
While none of Spain’s ports is included among the top 20 ports in the world, Tangier Med beats out the third-ranked port in Europe and ranks behind the ports of Rotterdam (thirteenth) and Antwerp/Bruges (fifteenth).
Tanger Med had the second greatest annual growth rate among the top 20 ports in the world in 2023, with a 13.4 percent gain, after only China’s Qingdao (16.9 percent).
Tanger Med handled a record 8.6 million containers in 2023, 95% of the port complex’s nominal capacity, a target achieved four years ahead of schedule, according to the annual report of the port published at the end of January. This reflects an increase of 13.4% compared with 2022.
In 2023, 477,993 TIR trucks were handled, an increase of 4.1% on 2022. At the same time, industrial goods traffic recorded a significant year-on-year increase of 14.3%, offsetting a 7.7% drop in agricultural goods traffic.
Marking a considerable increase in tonnage, the Tanger Med port complex handled 122 million tons of goods, an increase of 13.6% compared with 2022, of which 21% was in import/export.