El blog de Maria

Companies within the Tánger-Med port.

Maritime transport is responsible for shipping 85% of international trade and the largest concentration of commercial ports is in the Mediterranean.  The Straits of Gibraltar are a strategic gateway for international trade, reducing sailing time between the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and South East Asia.  In this region there are five commercial ports: Algeciras, Ceuta, Gibraltar, Tangiers and Tánger-Med.

Tánger-Med port is a crossroad point for world maritime trade, situated at a strategic point for international business.  In the field of logistics, Tánger-Med acts as a network of road and rail infrastructures and as the intersection and transfer point for direct shipping lines.  

This super-port is made up of the following: two container terminals with an initial capacity of three and a half million containers, a hydrocarbon terminal  with a storage capacity of five million tons per year, a ro-ro terminal (roll on/roll off method for transporting wheeled cargo such as cars, trucks and trains), a bulk cargo terminal measuring four hundred linear meters and with fifteen hectares extension area, a Logistic Activity Zone (LAZ) and a passenger port with capacity for one million cars, seven hundred thousand trucks, twenty-five hectares of ro-ro  parking space, a passenger terminal and a railway station.

The importance of Tánger-Med port lies in the significant land, sea and air connections, the creation of additional service areas such as the LAZ, and substantial industrial parks and the presence of leading world businesses such as Maersk.

Due to its proximity to Europe, Tánger-Med will benefit from the flow of trade between north and south and will enable local industry to establish off-shoot businesses to support the shipping trade.

Once established as a stopping point on the Straits of Gibraltar, it will be able to offer a world-class service and will become an international reference point in the world of shipping-related services such as shipping repairs, supplies, provisioning, bunkering etc.

In its first twelve months of operation, the Moroccan port of Tangiers handled one million containers,  30% of that handled by the port on the Andalucian shore and its goal is to triple this amount.  

Maersk administers the first of the Tánger-Med terminals as well as another in Algeciras and when comparing hourly productivity of the two ports, the African port exceeds the Spanish port by 10%.

On land within the port area, a large industrial and logistic system is being created, an example of which is the Renault factory being built in Melloussa to manufacture up to 400.000 vehicles per year.  Linked with the Tánger-Med portal system, it will be able to take advantage of the ground-breaking logistical infrastructure being developed in the north of the country which will allow Nissan Renault to make use of one of the four main automobile industry centers of the Mediterranean region.

In addition, a new city is being constructed in between Tangiers and Tetuán to house the thousands of workers who will be brought into the area.

King Mohammed VI named the new city Chrafate (Beauty) and within 10 years time, it is predicted that it will be home to 150,000 people.

However, although the Spanish play practically no part in the port activities (with the exception of operating the tug boats), they play an active role in the Export Processing Zone where they have the second largest presence after the French.  There are also American companies there, such as Delphi, manufacturers of cables for cars which closed its plant in Cadiz to relocate to the African coast.

Morocco boasts numerous reasons for offering increased productivity.  Labour costs are reasonable, optimum tax conditions, accessible to markets in Europe, political stability etc.   An internal report from the EU reveals that “compared with Eastern Europe, the Moroccans have the upper hand.   Salaries in Eastern Europe are now relatively high, whilst Moroccan workers are young and extremely adaptable.  It is possible to recruit a high-calibre team of staff from amongst the numerous people who apply for jobs and there are no problems when it comes to staff training and productivity”.

The method of creating a business is practically the same as in any other European country.   Initial activities are done through the tax office which entitles the company to tax benefits depending on the nature of the business being established.  Enrolling the company to the social security system is done in the local governmental office, the national social security bank.

By Jesús Castro

www.costaluzlawyers.es