Now that Tanger Med has achieved its objectives several years before schedule and is now virtually at capacity, a new port in Nador, 250 km further east in the Mediterranean, is expected to provide much-needed logistics capacity, and it will be operated by Marsa Maroc, specialized website “le Marin” reported on Wednesday.
Marsa Maroc already manages three terminals in the modern port of Nador, including a multifunctional terminal, an oil terminal, and a passenger and freight terminal that serves the GNV and Balearia lines from the port in Sète, France.
The redesigned port of Nador, originally designed as an oil hub when Tanger Med’s principal business involved containers and roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) cargo, will serve as a breath of fresh air for Morocco.
On June 25, the Board of Directors of Morocco’s state-owned Marsa Maroc, which is affiliated with German businesses Eurogate and Hapag-Lloyd, approved the signing of an agreement to operate Tanger Med’s first container port, East Container Port (ECT), also known as TC1.
The 70-hectare port, which features a 1,520-meter quay with an 18-meter draft and 15 programmed gantry cranes, is designed to handle 3.4 million TEU containers annually.
The dock, expected to open in 2027, is now being built in Betoya Bay by a partnership that includes Jan De Nul, Moroccan firm SGTM, and Turkish company STFA. Marsa Maroc intends to invest 200 Mln euros in quay equipment in the first phase.
The terminal on the other side of the dock, West Container Terminal (WCT) or TC2, will have 1,200 meters of quay space for 2.7 Mln TEUs. A bulk port with three berths for bulk liquids is also envisaged.