Marsa Maroc and CMA CGM Finalize Strategic Partnership for Nador West Med West Container Terminal Concession

Moroccan port infrastructure | Mediterranean logistics alliances | transshipment hub development | emerging market yield opportunities

Marsa Maroc and CMA Terminals—a key subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group—have forged a pivotal joint venture to operate the West Container Terminal at Nador West Med, Morocco’s flagship Mediterranean deep-water port, positioning it as a cornerstone for enhanced regional trade flows and attractive concessions for global infrastructure investors.

Building on the overarching framework agreement signed on October 28, 2024, between the Tanger Med Group and CMA CGM, Marsa Maroc and CMA Terminals today announced a binding partnership accord enabling the latter’s entry into the equity of the concession-holding entity for the terminal. Upon regulatory approvals, Marsa Maroc will retain a controlling 51% stake in both capital and voting rights, with CMA Terminals securing 49%—a structure that balances local operational dominance with international scale to optimize throughput and revenue generation.

Set for phased commissioning starting in 2027, the terminal will feature 900 linear meters of quay at an 18-meter draft, 37.5 hectares of dedicated yard space across a 60-hectare footprint, and up to eight ship-to-shore (STS) gantry cranes. At full tilt, it promises annual capacity of 1.8 million TEUs, unlocking substantial escalatory upside for concession-linked cash flows amid Morocco’s accelerating export diversification and nearshoring trends.

This alliance marries CMA CGM’s expansive global liner network—poised to funnel high-volume traffic streams—with Marsa Maroc’s entrenched operational acumen and regional footprint, cultivating a state-of-the-art facility attuned to premier international benchmarks for efficiency and interconnectivity. For institutional allocators, the partnership signals robust risk-adjusted returns in port concessions, leveraging transshipment synergies to elevate Nador West Med as a Mediterranean pivot and amplify Morocco’s gravitational pull on major maritime trade lanes.

Strategically sited in Betoya Bay at the Oued Kert estuary—mere nautical miles from the Gibraltar Strait—the port’s geographic primacy complements CMA CGM’s existing Western Mediterranean assets, fostering seamless feeder integrations and cost-efficient scale that enhance portfolio resilience in logistics-exposed EM strategies.