Global logstics: Virginia Port Authority, Morocco ink MoU for future trade

Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 4/18/2008

NORFOLK, Va.—Earlier this month, the Virginia Port Authority said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tangiers Mediterranean Special Agency (TSMA) to forge a partnership to boost trade between their ports.

TSMA is a Moroccan concern that manages the multimodal Port Tangiers Med Complex. It is comprised of container and ro-ro terminals, a passenger terminal, and a logistics free zone, according to a VPA statement. The port’s first container terminal—which has a 1.5 million Twenty-foot equivalents (TEU) capacity opened in July 2007, and a second terminal is slated to open this summer, which will bring total capacity to 8 million TEU.

The VPA said that the objective of this agreement is centered on promoting new ocean services and new business between TSMA and The Port of Virginia. And it also said that it covers the exchange of information, experience, and expertise between the two ports in the following areas: infrastructure, marine transportation, and international trade. It also establishes a “system of communication” in an effort to improve services that link the ports, the VPA said.

A VPA spokesman told LM in an interview that rather than providing detailed specifics on ocean services and incentives that may result from this MoU that that MoU “in essence says we will work together to promote trade between our ports and along the trade lane when and where possible.”

With that being the case, he added that there is no specific short- or long-term forecast for container trade growth between the ports. But he did acknowledge that Tangiers is a growing port that serves Morocco and the larger region of North Africa and there is more and more growth in that region. He also noted that in order to sustain that growth, it will require imports and growth that will yield exports.

“Moreover, Tangiers is situated along the Suez trade route that we believe will become an even more critical trade lane to us for the big vessels coming from China and the Indian subcontinent,” added the VPA spokesman.

VPA Executive Director Jerry A. Bridges said that he expects this MoU to lead to an increase in business between the U.S. and Morocco as a result of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries that went into effect in January 2006.

The VPA said it has MoU’s akin to this one with the Suez Canal Authority, the Xiamen (China) Port Authority, and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).