Tangier Med has climbed one place to become the world’s 16th-largest container port, ahead of Los Angeles, while some 300 km farther east, the first terminal at Nador West Med has completed testing ahead of the start of commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2026.
“WMCT has met, ahead of the initial schedule, all the conditions required to begin operations at the East Terminal,” West Med Container Terminal said on Sept. 10. The company, owned by Marsa Maroc and Terminal Investment Limited (TIL), MSC Group’s terminal arm, tested the facility during a trial vessel call under real operating conditions.
The exercise tested equipment, IT systems and team coordination before the arrival of the first commercial vessels. WMCT said the terminal is able to handle the world’s largest container ships.
Tangier Med overtakes Los Angeles
The latest Lloyd’s List ranking, based on 2025 throughput, places Tangier Med 16th worldwide, between China’s Xiamen and Thailand’s Laem Chabang. Los Angeles ranks 18th.
Tangier Med’s four container terminals handled 11.1 million TEUs in 2025, up 8.4% year-on-year. A TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent unit, is the standard measure used by the shipping industry to count container capacity.
Tangier Med remains Africa’s highest-ranked container port and the only African port in the global top 20. By comparison, Valencia ranks 40th and Algeciras 46th in the same ranking.
Tangier Med’s first container terminal began operating in 2007. Tangier Med 2 followed in 2019, substantially expanding the complex’s capacity. In 2020, Tangier became the leading container port in both Africa and the Mediterranean.
Nador to open progressively from late 2026
At Nador, the complex is due to open in stages rather than all at once. The East Terminal is expected to be the first facility to begin commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2026, with other terminals and facilities following from 2027.
At full capacity, the terminal will be able to handle 3.4 million TEUs a year. It has 1,520 metres of quay, an 18-metre draught and around 70 hectares of terminal space. Marsa Maroc initially planned to invest €200 million in the first phase.
A second container terminal, on the western side of the port, is due to follow from 2027. Marsa Maroc owns 51% of the project alongside CMA Terminals, a CMA CGM subsidiary. The terminal is expected to add 1.8 million TEUs of annual capacity.
Together, the two terminals could therefore exceed five million TEUs a year at full capacity.
Nador West Med follows a model already used at Tangier, combining a deep-water port with industrial and logistics zones. The complex lies in Betoya Bay, less than 250 nautical miles from the Strait of Gibraltar and close to major shipping routes linking Asia, the Mediterranean and Europe.
A new maritime gateway for the Oriental region
The port will also give Morocco’s Oriental region direct access to major shipping routes, at a time when the country’s main Mediterranean transshipment capacity remains concentrated around Tangier.
Its land connections include the planned 104-km Guercif-Nador West Med motorway, which will connect with the Fez-Oujda motorway at Guercif via Saka and Driouch. The 27-km section between Driouch and the port is the most advanced of the project’s three sections.
The energy component of the complex is progressing more slowly. In February, Morocco’s Energy Ministry suspended the tender for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal planned at Nador West Med and the associated gas pipelines, citing new parameters without providing further details.
The launch of the East Terminal will give Morocco a second large-scale container port complex on its Mediterranean coast, nearly two decades after Tangier Med’s first container terminal entered service.