MSC has become the latest carrier to seek to expand its west Mediterranean port capacity after state-controlled Moroccan port operator Marsa Maroc recently announced an agreement that the carrier’s port-dedicated entity, Terminal Investment Ltd (TiL), has acquired 50% (minus one share) in a concession for the box terminal at Nador West Med.
MSC will join French shipping line CMA CGM at the port’s East Container Terminal in an “attempt to replicate the success of Tanger Med”, according to Alphaliner.
Today’s Alphaliner report says that ,“with four container terminals now in operation at the almost fully developed Tanger Med port”, Morocco is attempting to replicate Tanger’s success with a second West Med hub some 250km further east.
At Nador West, Marsa Maroc has built 1.5km of new quays and, in October, established a 51:49 joint-venture with CMA CGM to operate and equip half of the terminal with eight ship-to-shore cranes and 24 electric rail gantry cranes.
And the analyst predicted: “Through this new joint-venture, the remaining 750 metres of the pier will therefore be operated by MSC, where we can expect the company to invest in similar equipment.”
It added that, once completed, Marsa Maroc’s attention will move to a possible second container terminal on the west side of the port.
“Marsa Maroc plans to commission Nador West Med’s ECT in phases, with the first module scheduled to become operational in 2027. The port also plans to accommodate another, somewhat smaller, container terminal later, provisionally referred to as the West Container Terminal,” Alpahliner said.
Nador West has become a focal point for Mediterranean shipping interests in the past year as it offers new capacity in a region inundated with a surge in transhipment traffic since the Red Sea crisis began, prompting a fresh wave of port congestion in the West Med.
Media spoke to Tanger Med Port Authority MD Hassan Abkari at the TOC Europe conference in Rotterdam last year, when he stressed that new capacity in the region was urgently required.
“We have noticed recently that vessels from Asia have been arriving with a draught of over 17.4 metres, implying they are completely loaded – we didn’t expect to see that for another 10 years… A lot of vessels are coming fully packed with containers, because they are not calling at any ports before us.”