Traffic in Moroccan ports up 5.1% in 2020

Despite challenges posed by the pandemic to international trade, Moroccan ports handled 92.5 million tons in 2020, that is a 5.1% rise compared to a year earlier, the national ports agency said.

Imports rose 4.4% to 56.1 million tons due notably to a rise in cereal purchases by 33.4%, sugar (+8.9%), animal feed (+3.4%), coal (+ 3.1%), ammoniac (+17.5%) and sulfuric acid (+29.6%).

The agency noted a significant drop however in fuel by 12.6%, citing a plunge in gasoline imports by 41.5%.

Exports rose 7.6% to 33.5 million tons thanks to a rise in fertilizer exports by 34.4%.

Three main ports accounted for 77.7% of all traffic. The port of Casablanca came first, followed by Jorf Lasfar and Mohammedia which together handled 71.9 million tons.

The national ports agency does not manage Tangier port, the largest in Africa which has recently broke a record in the Mediterranean as the largest port in terms of container capacity.

Tanger Med port authority had announced early in January that the port handled 81 million tons, an increase of 23% compared to 2019.

Tanger Med port alone processed 47% of the total container traffic in Moroccan ports.