Tangier Med’s performance represents an increase of over 18% compared to 2019.
Morocco’s Tangier Med port complex’s container activity is set to exceed the threshold of 5.7 million TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit) by the end of this year. According to authorities at the Moroccan port, the performance is the first of its kind and was never achieved before by any other Mediterranean ports.
In a press release, Tangier Med Port Authority (TMPA) announced that the high container number represents an increase of more than18% compared to 2019. The Moroccan port also managed to break records this year with its productivity level, reaching over 500,000 containers transported per month.
The port’s monthly performance “was exceeded 4 times in 2020 with a new record set during the month of November of 553,164 TEUs containers,” noted the press release.
These strong records demonstrate the port’s promising outlook and its ability to deliver in 2020 despite the COVID-19 crisis. Amid the negative impact of the pandemic-induced decrease in passenger traffic, Tangier Med managed to substitute with an increase in cargo traffic that evidently made up for the lost income.
Tangier Med is also expecting to end the year with nearly 80 million tonnes of transported goods, achieving an increase of over 23% compared to 2019. The port complex alone represents almost half of the entire port tonnage of Morocco.
In spite of the generalized slowdown in economic activity due to the global pandemic, Tangier Med’s truck traffic still managed to remain “at the same level compared to 2019 and will end 2020 with nearly 350, 000 trucks unit.”.
On October 15, Financial Times’ FDI Intelligence announced Tangier Med Zones to be the second-leading “global free zone”.
The assessment compared almost 100 industrial zones based on “international benchmarks and measures and the adequacy of their value proposition with investors’ expectations.” Morocco’s northern port ranked fifth in 2019.
Read also: Tangier Med Port Maintains Positive Turnover Despite COVID-19 Crisis
On August 31, Tangier Med’s annual financial report for the first half of 2020 also showed that the port performed positively despite the COVID-19 crisis, reaching an annual turnover of MAD 1.16 billion ($127 million) by the end of June.
During the first half of 2020, the Tangier port’s agency invested a budget of MAD 2337 million ($26 million) for infrastructure, roads, and network upgrades. In addition, the port was also able to allocate MAD 48 million ($9 million) for investments.
With these positive results in a crisis-laden year, Tangier Med a number of joined global port hubs — like Singapore, Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Long Beach — in reaffirming their commitment to guaranteeing the sustainability of global logistics chains.