From the heart of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Moroccan port has become the first stop of the Mediterranean and a strategic hub between Europe, Africa and Asia. Tarik Dourasse, Chief of Tanger Med, tells Panorama.it the reasons for his geopolitical success
The Strait of Gibraltar It has been synonymous with borders and crossings for centuries: they are enough 14 kilometers of water To separate the African continent from Europe. But today this tongue of sea is much more than a natural barrier: it is the crossroads of globalization, the route that unites the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and that sees transit every year 130,000 shipsAlmost 400 per day. A flow that transports beyond 60 million containers and millions of passengersand who for twenty years has found his epicenter in the port of Tanger Med. «The opportunity was there, it was enough to give her a clear and coherent vision – he remembers Tarik Dourasse, Chief of Tanger Med -. The Strait is the second world route after Rattan. With the royal directives, the project was guided from the first day with ambition, determination and continuity. This is the key to success ».
From the 2007when the first terminal was inaugurated after only four years of work, the port of Morocco He climbed the global rankings. Today is the First airport of Africa for the eighth consecutive year And, for five years, also the first of the Mediterraneanovercoming historical ports like Barcelona, Marseille, Genoa or the Pyreum. Worldwide it reached the 17th position, with over ten million containers lively. The jump is not only quantitative, but above all qualitative. Before the project, the Morocco occupied the 65th place in the international rankings on commercial connectivity. Today it is connected to more than 80 countries and over 200 ports. “For an investor – he observes Doury – It means certainty of access to the markets. Those who produce here know that they can send their assets quickly, connecting to a global network ».
A unique integrated model
Tanger med It is not just a port: it is a Integrated ecosystem which combines industrial, logistics and franche areas. A unicum that has made it possible to attract large -scale investments, generating beyond 130,000 jobs direct and an equal impact to 1% of the national GDP. The automotive industry is the symbol. Renault chose to settle in 2012 with the largest plant inAfrica and the Middle Eastcapable of producing 400,000 vehicles per year. Stellantis he followed with a plant from 200,000 units. Together they export 600,000 cars per year, all boarding a Tanger Med. «Around these factories – he explains Doury – an ecosystem of 1,400 companiesfrom components suppliers to aeronautical, electronic and agri -food companies. It is no longer assembly: here it is really produced ».
Geopolitics of routes
The rise of Tanger med It has a value that goes beyond the economy. Means redesign the global routes and place Morocco as a HUB connection between Europe, Africa And Asia. Today over 35% of the traffic direct to West Africa passes from here, while almost a third concerns Europe. The east-west route, which brings containers from China to Europe in three weeks, finds an obligatory passage in the Strait. “Before Tanger med – remember Doury – Moroccan goods transit from foreign ports, even from Rotterdamwith higher costs and times. Today the country has a port capable of welcoming ships from 24,000 containerslong 400 meters. It is an epochal change ». The centrality of the airport also changed the regional balances: 29% of managed traffic is European, The 35% AfricanThe 24% Asian and the 15% transatlantic. Tanger Med has become like this The main euro-African hubreducing the dependence on airports Northern Europe And offering western Africa a competitive hub.
Efficiency and reputation
The port was not limited to growing in size. He built a reputation of efficiency that made him attractive to the great shipowners. There World Bank It places it at Third place in the world for performance. «Operators seek ports where to dock with minimal effort and maximum savings – he explains Doury -. Tanger med It offers precisely this, thanks to slender processes and 100% Moroccan human capital ». The governance model played a key role: a special agency with state prerogatives has simplified procedures and reduced the bureaucracy. The public-private partnership brought 13 billion euros of investments, two thirds of which are private. There is also another dimension that strengthens the geopolitical scope of the project: sustainability. “Tanger med It is today a green port – he underlines Doury -. The electricity supplied to ships is al 100% renewable. We have installed the first plant of floating solar panels on a dam, which reduces the evaporation of water and produces clean energy ». Morocco has set ambitious objectives in terms of decarbonisation and production of green hydrogenand the port is the showcase. This makes Tanger med Not only a logistical hub, but also an ecological transition laboratory in a region that will be crucial for the climatic challenges of the future.
Around 2030
The look is now aimed at 2030when the Morocco will host the World Cup together with Spain And Portugal. The expansion of the passenger terminal is already in progress: today it manages 3 million people a yearwith summer peaks of 40,000 passengers per day. But the forecasts speak of numbers destined to double. Frease traffic grows in parallel: 2,000 trucks per day cross the port, transporting agricultural products, textiles and industrial components to Europe. A strategic message is hidden behind these data. «We have chosen not to be a simple trap of the trap – he concludes Doury -. Our goal is to integrate the port with the country, connect it with highwayFranche and industries areas. Only in this way Morocco becomes the protagonist of globalization, and not a secondary passage ». From the bank south of the MediterraneanTanger Med has rewritten the geography of trade. No more periphery, but center of a sea that for millennia has been the scenario of routes, conquests and meetings. Today The future of globalization He passes from here, in that stretch of sea where Atlantic and Mediterranean meet and two continents touch each other.
