CMA CGM is set to increase its presence in the Moroccan port sector, signing a 25-year concession agreement to take a joint-venture stake in the Nador West Med container terminal, reports The Loadstar.
Terms
Under the terms of the deal, hammered out with state-controlled Moroccan port operator Marsa Maroc, CMA CGM will take a 49% stake in the under-development facility, to operate half of the first facility being built, the East Container Terminal.
CMA CGM chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saadé said: “Morocco is positioning itself as a strategic logistics and port hub with strong growth potential.
Through its subsidiary, Terminal Link, CMA CGM owns 100% of a Casablanca terminal (via Somarport), as well as 40% of the Eurogate Tangiers terminal.
Nador West has become a focal point for Mediterranean shipping interests this year, as it offers new capacity in a region inundated with a surge in transhipment traffic since the Red Sea crisis induced carriers to alter Asia-Europe routings around the Cape of Good Hope and omit East Med calls at ports such as Piraeus, Gioia Tauro and Malta.
Instead, they unload central and east Mediterranean and Black Sea cargo in ports such as Tanger, Algeciras and Barcelona, prompting a fresh wave of port congestion in the West Mediterranean.
At the TOC Europe conference in Rotterdam earlier this year, Tanger Med Port Authority MD Hassan Abkari told delegates Tanger had been handling unprecedented volumes. He explained: “We have noticed recently that vessels from Asia have been arriving with a draught of over 17.4 metres, implying they are completely loaded – we didn’t expect to see that for another 10 years.
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Source: Loadstar
