Alexandre Rocha, special envoy*
alexandre.rocha@anba.com.br
Casablanca – Morocco is investing 3.5 billion euros in the construction of a port complex in Tangiers, in the north of the Arab country. The investment should take place by 2010, with 1.5 billion euros being public investment and 2 billion euros, private capital. The information was disclosed yesterday (28) by Hicham El Aloui, the business development manager at TMSA (Tangiers Mediterranean Special Agency), the company responsible for the project, during a seminar about business opportunities between Brazil and the Arab country, at the offices of the Casablanca Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services. The TMSA is a state-owned company that operates in a private regime.
Tanger Med will be turned to the transport of containers and also to reexport, with free zones turned to logistics, industry and trade. "Morocco demands participation in the global economy and with enterprises like this one we may attract some of the maritime east-west and north-south trade flow," stated Aloui. Tangiers is close to the exit from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic. "The traffic of container vessels is growing, having risen 18% between 2001 and 2005 and, by 2010, it should double in the Mediterranean region," he added.
The objective of the talk by Aloui was to attract the interest of Brazilian companies to the enterprise. According to him, the port may be used for the transhipment from larger to smaller vessels, as a logistics centre, with warehouses and offices, as a place for the installation of industries and as a huge duty free shop.
The project forecasts at least two container terminals, the first scheduled to be inaugurated in July this year and the second in 2008, two industrial free zones, one that is already in existence, a logistics free zone, to start operating at the end of 2007, a duty free shop that may be open between 2009 and 2010, as well as a passenger terminal with a forecasted movement of seven million passengers a year.
With a draught of 18 metres, the port will have a capacity for annual throughput of 3.5 million containers. As Tangiers is only 14 kilometres away from Europe by sea, Aloui stated that it is possible to take products by lorry to the main European capitals within 48 hours. The Mediterranean is crossed by ferryboat. "We will have the most competitive cost in the region for products from Asia and the Americas," stated Aloui. The complex is also going to count on railway terminals and with direct access to the main highways in the region.
The executive pointed out that if Brazilian companies want to participate in the project, especially if they opt for the development of some industrial activity, like the use of labour and part of the local inputs, they will be able to make use not only of tax exemption, but also of the trade agreements that Morocco has with the European Union (EU), with the United States and with other countries.
"The final objective of this enterprise is the generation of jobs," he declared. The expectation is that 145,000 jobs should be generated. The industrial zone that is already in operation, established in 2000, currently houses 254 companies that had revenues of US$ 800 million in 2006, according to Aloui.
The logistics zone, which is being developed by Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza), the same one that administers Jebel Ali port, in Dubai, will be used by companies that want to store their products for spot delivery in the region, installation of show rooms and for the addition of value, like packaging.
Aloui said to ANBA that Brazilian furniture factories, for example, may establish permanent showrooms at the site, avoiding the need of taking the client to Brazil. In the same way, exporters of meats may maintain cold storage units for distribution to Europe and other markets.
According to him, the companies that are going to operate in the port area are navigation companies, logistics operators, distributors, and industries in the sectors of auto parts, electronics, services, agroindustry and textile products, as well as retailers in the duty free shop. In the latter case, the objective is to establish a great purchase centre for tourists. After the talk, Aloui was sought by Brazilian businessmen interested in knowing more about the enterprise.
Contact
TMSA
Hicham El Aloui
Tel: (+212 22) 97-4479
E-mail: h.elaloui@tmsa.ma
Site: www.tmsa.ma
*Translated by Mark Ament
