Morocco to open two new deepwater ports in 2026 and 2028 as it seeks to replicate Tanger Med success

Morocco will open a new deepwater Mediterranean port next year and another on the Atlantic in 2028, Equipment and Water minister Nizar Baraka said, as the North African country aims to replicate the success of Africa’s largest port, Tanger Med.

Nador West Med, under construction on the Mediterranean, is scheduled to be operational in the second half of 2026, Baraka told Reuters in an interview.

It will offer 800 hectares for industrial activity, with plans to expand to 5,000 hectares, surpassing Tanger Med’s industrial zones, he said. The port will also host Morocco’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal - a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) - linked by a pipeline to industrial hubs in the northwest, as Morocco pushes investments in natural gas and renewable energy to reduce dependence on coal.

Further south on the Atlantic coast, Morocco is building a $1 billion port in Dakhla, in the disputed Western Sahara region.

The facility will be surrounded by 1,600 hectares for industrial activities and 5,200 hectares for farmland irrigated by desalinated water, Baraka said. "The port will be ready in 2028 and will be Morocco's deepest at 23 metres," Baraka said.

Such depth would support heavy industries focussed on processing raw materials from Sahel countries, he said. Officials have marketed Dakhla as a gateway for landlocked Sahel nations to global trade.

Both Nador and Dakhla ports will include quays dedicated to exporting "green hydrogen" once production begins, Baraka said.

Nador and Dakhla would be Morocco’s third and fourth deepwater ports after Tanger Med and Jorf Lasfar, an energy, bulk cargo and phosphates exports port on the Atlantic.

By 2024, industrial zones near Tanger Med hosted 1,400 firms employing 130,000 people across sectors including automotive, aeronautics, textiles, agri-food and renewable energy, official figures show.

Morocco is also considering building a port in Tan-Tan on the Atlantic in partnership with "green hydrogen" investors, Baraka said. "We are conducting studies to decide the appropriate size of the port," Baraka said.

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Aidan Lewis)