Morocco’s Tanger Med Ranked Most Efficient Port in North Africa, Europe

Rabat – Morocco’s Tanger Med port has ranked 6th (out of 370) in the global container port performance index (CPPI), making it the most efficient port in Europe and North Africa.

CPPI is a comparable index that assesses the performance of ports across the world based on the time vessels had spent in the studied port to complete workloads throughout 2021.

Despite COVID’s disruptions of the supply chain, Tanger Med maintained a top ranking in the index developed by World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Moroccan ports of Agadir and Casablanca also featured in the list in the 261st and 262nd positions.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the March 2021 blocking of the Suez Canal by a container ship, and the raging war in Ukraine “continue to impact the global economy,” said the CPPI report

With more than four-fifths of global merchandise trade being carried by sea, “the pandemic highlighted in stark terms the pivotal role port performance plays in the timely supply of goods to countries and their populations,” said Turloch Mooney, Associate Director of Maritime and Trade at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

To improve port efficiency, investments in digital technology and green fuel solutions are essential to increase the resilience of ports, argued Martin Humphreys, Lead Transport Economist at the World Bank.

“Inefficient ports represent a significant risk for many developing countries in that they can hinder economic growth, harm employment, and increase costs for importers and exporters,” he explained.

Humphreys also noted that Middle Eastern “investments in container port infrastructure and technology are proving to be effective.”

The efficiency of these investments is reflected in the good performance of Middle Eastern ports in the CPPI with four of the world’s top five ports from the region.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah port came first in the global ranking ahead of port Salalah in Oman, Hamad port in Qatar, and Khalifa port in Abu Dhabi. Notably, the only non-Middle Eastern port in the top 5 rankings was China’s Yangshan port which came fourth.

The report further highlighted the resilience of Chinese ports in face of the pandemic, adding that three of the Chinese ports in Shanghai, Ningbo, and Guangzhou featured in the top 10 while Japan’s Yokohama dropped from the most efficient port in 2021 to the 10th place this year.

North American ports came in later positions with the Virginia port coming first in the region but 23rd globally ahead of Miami Port (29th in the world) and Canada’s Halifax (46th worldwide).