Dutch company to Construct First Automated Terminal in Africa at Tangier Port

Rabat – A Dutch port operator said it would fund the construction of the first automated transshipment terminal in Africa at the port of Tangier. The announcement of this major new investment in Morocco was made as King Mohammed VI was wrapping his private visit to the Netherlands on Wednesday.

In a statement on Thursday, APM Terminals said the port, which will be operational in 2019, will quadruple the company’s current annual capacity in Tangier by allowing for the receipt and shipment of five million additional TEUs worth of international products to and from Africa.

The €758 million investment will allow the company – which makes known its long business history at Tangier Med 1 port – to become the operator of the Tangier Med 2 port complex in a 30-year concession, paving the way for the installment of new equipment.

“APM Terminals has been in Morocco since the creation of our first company APM Terminals Tangier in March 2005,” APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer said in the statement. “Today’s announcement shows our strong commitment to investing in trade and improving supply chains in the West Mediterranean market.”

The Tanger-Med port complex location on Africa’s northwest coast – where the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea meet – makes in the second-busiest container port on the African continent after Port Said, Egypt. The company’s location on the Spanish side of the Strait of Gibraltar – APM Terminals Algeciras – operates in correspondence with the terminal in Tangier as an “integrated Western Mediterranean transshipment hub.”