RIYADH: Morocco is preparing an 8 billion Moroccan dirham ($815 million) expansion of the Tanger Med industrial port complex, further bolstering its Mediterranean cargo-handling and energy infrastructure as Nador West Med’s first terminal nears opening.

King Mohammed VI reviewed both projects on Oct. 28, with Nador due to begin operating within days, according to a Royal Office statement. 

The new transshipment port, located in northeastern Morocco, has attracted 54 billion dirhams in public and private investment. Its planned energy facilities include potential hydrocarbon storage of 4 million cubic meters and liquefied natural gas processing capacity of 5 billion cubic meters annually.  

The Tanger Med 3 project, meanwhile, will add capacity for 4.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units annually, supported by 1,200 metres of quays.

A concession agreement has been signed with Maersk-APM for the terminal, the statement said. 

The wider port development comes as shipping disruptions across the region have highlighted the importance of maritime routes connecting Europe, Africa and Asia.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, speaking in Cairo on Oct. 26, called for navigational rights and freedoms to be restored around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab. 

The aim is to develop “an efficient port system capable of strengthening its competitiveness in the face of the restructuring of global value chains,” the Royal Office said.  

Mediterranean trade  

The expansion could raise Tanger Med’s total container-handling capacity to 20 million TEUs, reinforcing Morocco’s position in Mediterranean trade as global supply chains evolve. 

The investment follows rising traffic at the facility, which handled 11.1 million TEUs in 2025, up 8.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the port authority.

Tanger Med attributed that growth primarily to the latest expansion of its TC4 terminal, operated by APM Terminals.    

Energy security  

The LNG project at Nador West Med could give Morocco another route for importing gas after Algeria halted supplies through the Maghreb-Europe pipeline at the end of October 2021, following the expiry of the transit agreement.

Reverse flows from Spain to Morocco began in June 2022. 

An LNG import terminal would diversify Morocco’s supply options, although it would not shield the country from international gas prices or shipping disruptions. 

Nador West Med’s first container terminal is ultimately expected to handle 3.5 million TEUs annually.

A second terminal, with capacity for 1.8 million TEUs, is scheduled to enter service in April 2027.

The two terminals represent a separate 8 billion dirhams in private investment, according to the Royal Office.