With Morocco’s take-off and economic development, it is certainly Spain, its first trading partner, that benefits the most. It goes without saying that logistics is at the heart of this economic development because it is its essential, not to say vital, element.
Indeed, it is essentially on exchanges, on commerce, and therefore on the flow of goods and money that the common thing is built. That said, from this point of view, the geographical proximity, the close commercial relations and the importance of the Moroccan market can only push companies on both sides of the two shores to improve their competitiveness and their performance through these solutions. logistics.
Knowing in this that the volume of port traffic between Spain and Morocco reached a total of 573 million tonnes in 2022, 30% of which was handled by the Andalusian ports alone, Algeciras, Huelva, Cadiz, Seville, Malaga, Motril and Almeria, sure that Andalusia, like the Moroccan ports for that matter, are market opportunities to look out for.
Quite apropos, at the end of the “Logismed” trade show (June 13 to 15), which was celebrating its tenth candle. The event that brought together players from the transport and logistics sector in Casablanca, we guess it focused on the exchange of goods between Africa and Europe, in general, and between Spain and Morocco, especially given that most trade is done by sea.
We cannot hide from this the growth of traffic with Morocco, which can be explained by the steady increase in trade with Spain over the past 10 years. The volume or total amount of trade (exports + imports) increased from €9 billion in 2013 to €16.8 billion in 2021 (+86.6%). The two Kingdoms were able to maintain this momentum during the 2022 financial year with an increase in exports of 27.7% during the first ten months (+21.2% for imports).
A dynamic fueled by the economic growth of Morocco characterized by the flow of exports of agricultural products and the effect of the industrialization of Morocco around Tangier Med (automotive in particular) and the development of new integration schemes. This is not the case in Spain’s relationship with Algeria, a country paralyzed by the business environment and the absence of a real strategy of industrial and commercial openness. Unlike Morocco, Spain’s trade with Algeria followed an opposite trajectory with a decline between 2013 (€13.2 billion) and 2021 (€6.7 billion). Figures for the first 10 months of 2022 indicating a drop in exports of 36%.
Coming back to Logismed, the Morocco has enormous assets to become an essential hub in international logistics chains because ” equipped with transport infrastructure meeting international standards and international and national connectivity indicated the Minister of Transport and Logistics, Mohamed Abdeljalil during his opening speech. ” The kingdom he specified has been able to attract large investments in various sectors, such as the automotive industry, agriculture and agri-food, energy, aeronautics“, believing that “ Ihe logistics sector can rely on these major achievements and strengthen its competitiveness by setting up massification and intermodality nodes“.
Logismed, a showcase par excellence for the service offer and business development, was also an opportunity to take stock of the health of the transport and logistics sector after a two-year break due to Dame Covid. The role of technology and digitization, decarbonization and how to reach customers through increasingly efficient distribution channels were also highlighted.
“Omni-channeling” or omnichanneling was not left out and its theme was dealt with at the level of all the conferences, exhibitions and other workshops. This valuable marketing strategy between the company and the customer aims to maintain a lasting relationship with consumers that is adapted to their needs. The commercial approach that offers the customer a unique experience has made online shopping grow exponentially and customers are becoming more and more demanding.