The decline is due to a drop in both import and export activities.
Rabat – The National Ports Agency (ANP) announced today that Morocco’s ports’ traffic reached an overall volume of 7.5 million tonnes at the end of January 2021.
The number represents a decrease of 7.7% compared to the same period one year previously.
The ANP reported a decline in imports estimated at 5.1%, with a volume of 4.8 million tonnes.
The decline is mainly due to the decrease in cereal imports by -13.1%, coal by -3.9%, petroleum coke by -4.3%, and hydrocarbons by -15%.
Exports also experienced a drop of 12% at the end of January due to the sharp decline in the traffic of phosphates by -29.9%, clinker by -25%, and fertilizers by -9.7%.
Cabotage volumes also decreased by 13.3% with a traffic of 257,000 tonnes.
The drop comes from the decrease in hydrocarbon traffic (-27.8%), in particular diesel at the port of Mohammedia (-27.2%).
The ports of Casablanca, Jorf Lasfar, and Mohammedia marked the transit of 5.7 million tonnes of port traffic at the end of January 2021.
The number represents 76.1% of all traffic of ANP-managed ports.
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The port of Jorf Lasfar saw the highest volume, with a 40.1% share of overall traffic.
Compared to a year earlier, the port recorded a decrease of 16.1% due to the drop in exports of fertilizers (-11.6%) and drops in imports of cereals (-42%), sulfur (-4.5%), and coal (-43.5%).
The Casablanca port represents approximately 30.9% of the global traffic. It offered transit of 2.3 million tonnes of goods, down by 5% compared to the same period of the previous year.
The port of Mohammedia also marked a decline of 26.1% compared to the first month of 2020. The drop was due to a decline of imports of diesel, base oils, and bitumen.
