Rabat – The world’s largest heavy-lift shipping vessel, the Pilecki, left Shanghai on May 5, carrying to Morocco the first shipment of Chinese vaccine production equipment.
Leading the shipping operation are the Chinese-Polish Joint Stock Shipping Company and Chinese vaccine provider group Morimatsu, according to Chinese official sources.
With this shipment, Morocco will become the first COVID-19 manufacturing country in Africa.
The country’s annual production output of the COVID-19 vaccine will cover more than 60% of the continent’s needs, noted the official statement.
Despite the lingering pandemic-induced disruptions to the international grid of maritime shipping, the companies involved in the operation ensured timely delivery of the equipment.
The vessel boasts a deadweight of nearly 62,000 tons and holds five giant storage areas and a flight deck of nearly 5,000 square meters. The ship transported 40,000 cubic meters of vaccine production equipment.
“It took our company about six months to complete this project – two months for the overall planning, including conceptual design and detailed design, and four months for manufacturing,” Deputy General Manager of Morimatsu Group, Li Dao Quan, told Chinese media. “And it will take about another two months for final assembly, commissioning, and verification after arriving at the site.”
In January 2022, Morocco launched the construction of Africa’s largest vaccine manufacturing unit in Benslimane, on the outskirts of Casablanca.
Read also: King Mohammed VI Launches Construction of Largest Vaccine Manufacturing Unit in Africa
Inaugurated under the name of SENSYO Pharmatech, the facility seeks to guarantee Morocco’s self-sufficiency in terms of vaccine manufacturing and to help accelerate the rate of vaccination in Africa.
Composed of three main industrial lines, the project’s production capacity is set to reach 116 million units by 2023.
The facility’s production lines are set to produce pre-filled syringes, liquid, and lyophilized vials.
The venture comes with a price tag of €200 million and is scheduled to produce the first trial batches by July 30, 2022.
The vaccine manufacturing infrastructure is part of Morocco’s vision to stimulate pharmaceutical-related research and development, as well as to extend its manufacturing capabilities to cover biopharmaceutical products.
The project is a public-private venture with multiple international stakeholders including Swedish company Recipharm.
