The Ministry of Equipment and Transport revealed that the popularity of ports in Morocco exceeded the ceiling of 200 million tons for the first time, moving from 195 million tons recorded in 2022 to 209.4 million tons in 2023, an increase of 7.4 percent.

The Ministry stated in a report on port activity in Morocco for the year 2023 that the national volume recorded a volume of 112.7 million tons (an increase of 2.3 percent), while the transshipment activity recorded a volume of 96.7 million tons, an increase of 14 percent. Compared to 2022.

The division of port boom was characterized by the dominance of transshipment activity, as it represented a share amounting to 46.2 percent, followed by imports (32.1 percent), then exports (17.2 percent), then transshipment boom (3.8 percent), and finally Ship bunkering activity (0.8 percent).

With regard to transshipment activity, the Tangier Med Port Complex has confirmed its pivotal role as a prominent logistics platform at the level of the Mediterranean, and this is mainly due to the increase in container transshipment activity (92.8 million tons / plus 13.7 percent) and fuels (3, 7 million tons/plus 17.5 percent).

For its part, imports stabilized during the year 2023 at 67.2 million tons, meaning an increase of plus 1.9 percent compared to the year 2022. This growth is explained by the change in imports of grain (9.2 million tons/plus 3.9 percent) and sulfur (6 5 million tons, plus 3.6 percent), fuels (11.9 million tons, minus 1.2 percent), and coal (10.5 million tons, minus 6.2 percent).

The volume of exports increased by 3.5 percent, recording a total volume of 36 million tons. This change is due to an increase in exports of fertilizers (11 million tons, plus 20.5 percent) and clinker (2 million tons, plus 21.7 percent), coupled with a decrease in the popularity of phosphate (4.4 million tons, minus 18.4 percent) and acid. Sulfur (802 thousand tons / minus 38.7 percent).

The popularity of settlement among Moroccan ports, in turn, witnessed an increase of 2.7 percent compared to the year 2022, thus recording a volume of 7.9 million tons during the year 2023, mainly attributed to the increase in container handling activity (an increase of 13.8 percent) and fuels. (Plus 21.2 percent).

Regarding the activity of supplying ships with fuel, it witnessed a decrease of 8.2 percent compared to the year 2022, thus recording an increase in the size of 1.7 million tons, through supplying ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Regarding the popularity of new vehicles, it witnessed an increase of 16 percent by the year 2023, achieving a total volume of 673,630 units, of which 77 percent were allocated for export.

As for the popularity of passengers, Moroccan ports recorded 4,785,223 passengers during the year 2023, an increase of 39.1 percent compared to the year 2022, within the framework of the “Marhaba 2023” operation. The ports of Nador, Tangier Med and Tangier Medina handled more than 98 percent of the total passenger traffic.

With regard to tourist cruise activity, it recorded a good recovery, with an increase of 91.9 percent, bringing the number of marine tourists to 192,996 passengers during the year 2023.

On the other hand, the volume of coastal and traditional marine fishing products unloaded in Moroccan ports during the year 2023 decreased by minus 11 percent to record 1.35 million tons.

Maritime navigation in Moroccan ports witnessed a remarkable development during the year 2023, as it received more than 27,900 commercial ships, an increase of 16 percent compared to the year 2022.