The Ministry of Equipment and Water reported an 11.6% increase in overall port traffic, from 172.1 million tonnes in 2020 to 192.1 million tonnes in 2021 .
Domestic traffic recorded a volume of 111.5 million tonnes (+1.5%) while transhipment reached a volume of 80.5 million tonnes, a significant growth of 29.5% compared to 2020 , specifies a press release from this department.
Indeed, welcomes the ministry, despite the effects of the global health crisis, the maritime and port sectors have generally shown great resilience vis-à-vis the Covid-19 pandemic, ensuring the continuity of the supply chains. global supplies during the year 2021.
Last year was marked by the predominance of transhipment activity over imports, a first in the history of port traffic in Morocco, the ministry said, adding that transhipment represented 41.9% of overall traffic, followed by imports by 33.3%, exports by 20.8%, cabotage by 3.2% and bunkering by 0.8%.
According to data released by the ministry, imports stood, for the year 2021, at more than 63 million tonnes, thus marking a virtual stagnation compared to 2020 (-0.03%), mainly explained by the variation in grain traffic (7.2 million tonnes/-23.9%), sulfur (6.8 million tonnes/-5.1%), ammonia (1.6 million tonnes /-12.9%), coal (11.2 million tonnes/+7.8%) and hydrocarbons (11.2 million tonnes/+12.6%).
As for exports, in 2021 they reached a volume of 39.9 million tonnes (+1.7% compared to 2020), mainly due to phosphoric acid (3.8 million tonnes/+7 %), containers (4.8 million tonnes/+2%), crude phosphate (9.4 million tonnes/-5.6%), fertilizers (10.9 million tonnes/-6.8 %) and clinker (1.2 million tonnes/-2.5%).
Cabotage traffic between Moroccan ports increased by 20.8% compared to 2020, recording a volume of 6.1 million tonnes in 2021. This development is mainly linked to the increase in cabotage of containers (+31.2%).
Hydrocarbon bunkering (Bunkering) decreased by -2.1% compared to 2020. It recorded a volume of 1.59 million tonnes, in favor of ships transiting through the Strait of Gibraltar .
For the transhipment activity, the port complex of Tangier Med has confirmed its position as a major logistics platform in the Mediterranean basin, thus recording traffic of 80.5 million tonnes during the year 2021, i.e. a significant increase of 29.5% compared to the previous year.
New vehicle traffic reached 520,777 units in 2021, up 22.4% compared to 2020, considered an exceptional year, marked by the temporary suspension of the activity of the main operators. in Morocco, following the Covid-19 health crisis.
However, certain activities are still impacted by this crisis, in particular those relating to passengers and cruise passengers.
Indeed, for passenger traffic, Moroccan ports saw 723,407 PAX transit in 2021, a decrease of 30% compared to 2020, due to the suspension of international travel and health measures, in order to limit the spread of the pandemic. For the cruise activity, Moroccan ports did not record any traffic during the year 2021.
In addition, the volume of landings of coastal and artisanal maritime fishing products, during the year 2021, increased by 3% to 1.33 million tonnes.
With 165.2 million tonnes handled for the year 2021, the ports of Tangier Med, Casablanca and Jorf Lasfar concentrate almost 86% of global traffic. Thus, the port of Tangier Med is positioned at the top of the list, crossing for the first time the milestone of 100 million tons. For domestic traffic, the port of Jorf Lasfar maintains its first position in the Kingdom in terms of volume of goods handled in import-export, followed by the port of Casablanca.
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