News / CMA CGM signs up to take a stake in Morocco's Nador West Port

Artist's impression (Photo: Marsa Maroc)

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.

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.

Confusingly, development of the Nador West Med port is split into the East and smaller West container terminals, the latter to be the second phase.

The CMA CGM-controlled half of the terminal comprises 750 metres of quay and 35 ha of yard. The French carrier and Marsa Maroc have drawn up a $280m investment plan to build handling capacity to 1.2m teu, with ship-to-shore cranes and a new fleet of electric RTG cranes to operate the yard stacks.

CMA CGM chairman and CEO Rodolphe Saadé said: “Morocco is positioning itself as a strategic logistics and port hub with strong growth potential.

“The partnership we are entering into with Marsa Maroc marks a key step for the CMA CGM group, strengthening our presence through the Nador West Med container terminal.

“Our ambition is to support the country’s development, particularly in the forward-looking sectors of logistics and alternative energies,” he added.

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.

“A lot of vessels are coming fully packed with containers, because they are not calling at any ports before us,” and added that new capacity in the region was urgently required.

Listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, Marsa Maroc has a market cap of $2.3bn, according to Capital Market IQ, while the state owns 25% of the company. Institutional investors and corporates hold around 45% and the remaining 30% is free float.