Doha-die National Ports Agency (ANP) in Morocco has opened an international offer for a 30-year concession for the largest shipyard for Africa, a 300 million dollar facility in Casablanca, which aims to reproduce the country’s success in automotive processing.
The state agency is looking for experienced operators to develop, equip and develop the 52 morning facility, ANP Communications Director Abdellatif Lhouaoui. told Bloomberg in a telephone interview.
“We want to take demand from the saturated shipyards in southern Europe and live up to African ships in Europe,” he said.
According to the Spanish Outlet El Confidencial, the facility surpassed Existing shipyards throughout Africa, including South Africa’s leisure shipping facilities, and in particular the current smaller operations Morocco in Casablanca and Agadir, which mainly serve fishing vehicles.
The specifications of the new shipyard, detailed In APS official tender document from April 7, to meet four important installations.
This includes a 244-meter times with a 40-meter drying sock; a 150-meter 4-meter lifting platform with a capacity of 9,000 tons; a 62-meter-time 13-meter pool equipped with a 450-toned cooking crane; and 820 linear meters equipped. The facility comprises 21 hectares of open terrain for the company.
The industry sources cited by El Confidencial would like to point out that the French naval company of the naval group and the South Korea’s Hyundai, operator of the world’s largest shipyard in Ulsan, are probably the frontrunner for the contract.
Spain’s state -owned navantia seems to “only have very few options”, since the establishment of Casablanca is said to compete with Spanish operations, the publication suggested.
“It is a niche activity that bidders can completely propose. We want to repeat the history of the automotive industry,” Lhouaoui told Bloomberg and found that bidders can suggest shipbuilding components during the tendering process.
The facility will serve commercial, military and fishing ships, so that Morocco can maintain its military fleet in Germany instead of spending a “hard currency” abroad – a significant advantage for country planning to loosen your currency level in 2026.
The development follows the successful maritime and industrial expansion pattern of Morocco. The country’s Tanger-Med Hall recorded Growth of 18.8% in 2024, which processes 10.24 million containers. This growth is in contrast to stagnating numbers in the Spanish competing Algeciras port.
The automotive sector in Morocco has shown a similar success when Renault and Stellantis (formerly PSA) facilities exported over 500,000 vehicles to the European Union worth 15.1 billion euros in 2023.
The automotive industry now accounts for 27% of Exports Morocco and 16% of GDP and exceeds both transfers and tourism income.
The tender requirements published in French state that tender companies must demonstrate at least ten years of experience in the operation of comparable shipyards. Candidates can publish independently or as part of a consortium by an experienced operator.
The project was highlighted as particularly strategic after autumn 2022 redirect the Russian fishing fleet maintenance from Spanish ports of the Canary Island to Moroccan facilities due to sanctions in connection with the Ukraine conflict.
Read too: Maersk shifts the main shipping route from Algeciras to Tanger Med
