The cargo turnover of the ports of Morocco grew by 17.6%.
Ports of Morocco, managed by the National Port Agency (Agence Nationale portuaire, ANP) (except Tanger Med) showed a significant increase in freight turnover in the first half of 2014. According to Le Journal de la Marine Marchande, 39.2 million tons of various cargoes were handled in the ports, which is 17.6% more than the last year.
The growth occurred for all types of cargoes. So, the volume of bulk cargoes amounted to 21.2 million tons (+25.5%), most of which fell on grain and coal. The volume of cargoes showed an increase of 10.4% to 12.1 million tons, rolling loads – 21% (130,042 units), container turnover increased by 10% to 582,167 TEUs.
The leading port is Casablanca, which handled 12.9 million tons of cargo (+11.4%) and handled 438,713 TEUs of containers (+6.7%). Casablanca remains the principal port for the processing of phosphates, through which 3.1 million tons of fertilizers were delivered, which means an increase of 2.3%, (in contrast to the general decline in fertilizer processing in Morocco). The growth of grain transshipment in the Port of Casablanca amounted to 60.5% – up to 2.5 million tons.
The second most important port of Morocco, Jorf Lasfar, located 120 km south from the capital, handled 10.9 million tonnes of cargoes in the first half of the year, demonstrating an increase in 29.7%.
News about cooperation
Morocco looks forward to working with Russian partners to implement the project to build a terminal for receiving LNG in the east of the country, according to the press service of the government, distributed on the eve of the meeting between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and King of Morocco Mohammed IV.
On January 25, 2016, visiting the Moscow during the preparation for the visit to Russia of Mohammed IV, the adviser to the Moroccan monarch F.A. El Khimma in his talks with S. Lavrov and Y. Ushakov voiced the personal decision of Muhammad IV to give Russia special preferences in the implementation of the new energy program of Morocco “Gas to Power”, which provides the creation of an infrastructure for receiving LNG, its gasification, and transportation.
It is about the supply and storage of gas as part of the construction of a LNG receiving terminal for 10 billion cubic meters of gas and a gas pipeline system in the port of Jorf Lasfar on the east of the country in 2019 (the estimated cost of the project is about $4.7 billion).