Morocco will open a new deep-water port on the Mediterranean next year and another on the Atlantic in 2028, the Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, has said, as the North African country seeks to replicate the success of Africa’s largest port, Tanger-Med.
Nador West Med, currently under construction on the Mediterranean, is scheduled to become operational in the second half of 2026, Baraka said in an interview. It will offer 800 hectares for industrial activity, with plans to expand to 5,000 hectares, surpassing the size of the industrial zones surrounding Tanger-Med.
The port will also host Morocco’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal — a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) — connected by pipeline to industrial hubs in the northwest. The project forms part of Morocco’s broader drive to increase investment in natural gas and renewable energy in order to reduce reliance on coal.
Further south on the Atlantic coast, Morocco is building a $1 billion port in Dakhla, located in the disputed Western Sahara region. The facility will be surrounded by around 1,600 hectares for industrial activities and 5,200 hectares earmarked for farmland irrigated with desalinated water, according to Baraka.
“The port will be ready in 2028 and will be Morocco’s deepest at 23 metres,” he said. Such depth, he added, will support heavy industries focused on processing raw materials imported from Sahel countries. Officials have long promoted Dakhla as a gateway for landlocked Sahel nations to access global trade routes.
Both the Nador and Dakhla ports will include quays dedicated to the export of green hydrogen once production begins. When completed, they will become Morocco’s third and fourth deep-water ports after Tanger-Med and Jorf Lasfar, the latter being an Atlantic-side port specialising in energy, bulk cargo and phosphate exports.
By 2024, industrial zones surrounding Tanger-Med had attracted 1,400 companies employing 130,000 people across sectors including automotive manufacturing, aeronautics, textiles, agri-food production and renewable energy, according to official data.
Morocco is also considering the construction of a port in Tan-Tan on the Atlantic coast in partnership with green hydrogen investors. “We are conducting studies to determine the appropriate size of the port,” Baraka said.