Moroccan Port Chooses British "Global Ports" as Preferred Bidder Status

Rabat – Morocco’s National Ports Agency (ANP) has chosen the British operator Global Ports Holding (GPH) as its preferred bidder to run the new cruise terminal in Casablanca, subsequent to a call for tenders, GPH announced today in a press release.

GPH is the group’s largest stakeholder with 51%, followed by local shareholder Steya with 40%, and Spanish company Ocean Infrastructures Management with 9%.

According to the London-based operator, the consortium and ANP will collaborate under the conditions of a concession agreement that lasts 15 years. “The consortium and ANP will now work towards agreeing on the terms of the concession agreement,” GPH said in the press release.

With a MAD 715 million ($71 million) investment, this new cruise ship embarkation and disembarkation port seeks to bridge the infrastructural deficit in the Kingdom for this category of ships and increase the number of cruise passengers visiting Casablanca and other Moroccan cities.

In addition, the terminal can handle ships up to 350 meters in length and has an annual passenger capacity of 450,000.

The construction of a new cruise quay, a cruise terminal and a marine station meeting international standards, which considerably increased the port’s capacity are all part of this project which is led by ANP. By 2025, the Casablanca port will have the capacity to handle 180,000 transit passengers, up from 150,000 this year.

Casablanca, the largest city in Morocco, is the starting point for cruises to the capital city Rabat and the captivating red city of Marrakech. It will soon be accessible in just 1.2 hours thanks to the new bullet train project, which will likely be completed before the upcoming FIFA World Cup to be jointly hosted by Morocco, Spain, and Portugal in 2030.

The British operator also bills the Kingdom’s metropolis as “a key stopover port for Canary Island and West Mediterranean cruises, as well as crossing sailings between Europe and the Caribbean.”

Global Ports Holding is the largest independent cruise port operator in the world. In order to provide services at Liverpool’s cruise port, the company inked a 50-year concession agreement on April 3 with Mersey Docks & Harbour, a division of British Peel Ports.