Tanger Med handles 84m tonnes in first half as carriers rebuild services via Suez
Cargo rose 6% and port authority revenue 8.6%, while ONE, CMA CGM and Gemini reworked their Strait of Gibraltar calls
Tanger Med handled 84 million tonnes of cargo in the first half of 2026, 6% more than in the same period last year, with 45 million tonnes of that in the second quarter. The figures come from quarterly indicators reported by Tanger Med Port Authority (TMPA) and published by the Moroccan capital markets authority, the AMMC, on 28 August.
TMPA, which manages Tangier Med 1, the passenger and ro-ro port and Tangier Med 2, closed June with accumulated turnover of 2.479 billion dirhams, 8.6% more than a year earlier. Second-quarter revenue reached 1.293 billion dirhams, against 1.162 billion in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 11.2%.
The half-year extends the trend of 2025, when the complex handled 161 million tonnes, 13.3% more than in 2024, and 11,106,164 teu, up 8.4%. In 2024 it had handled 10,241,392 teu, 18.8% more than in 2023. Part of that capacity sits at APM Terminals MedPort Tangier in Tangier Med 2, where a three-year expansion completed in December 2024 added two million teu. The terminal now has nominal capacity of 5.2 million teu a year and two kilometres of berth.
The carriers are redrawing their networks across the Strait of Gibraltar as they return to Suez. Ocean Network Express launched its weekly Mediterranean Africa Express in July, calling Algeciras, Tangier Med, Dakar, Tema, Lekki and Abidjan. CMA CGM started the Kora Express this summer, linking Southampton, Vlissingen and Antwerp with Tangier Med, Algeciras and West Africa using ships of about 4,200 teu, and reorganised Euraf 5 to run from Tangier Med to Nouakchott, Kribi, Libreville, Pointe-Noire and Luanda.
The Gemini partners are moving the same way. Maersk said on 10 August that the AE19 service would stop sailing around the Cape of Good Hope and use the Suez corridor, with Port Said and Tangier Med in its Mediterranean rotation. On 14 September Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announced that AE5, AE11, AE12 and ME2 would also transit Suez, joining AE15 and AE19. AE11 adds Tangier Med, while ME2 calls Algeciras northbound and Tangier Med on its way back to Suez.
Tangier Med also has a defined place in the EU's emissions trading rules. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2297 lists it, together with East Port Said, as a neighbouring container transhipment port: a port outside the Union, within 300 nautical miles of an EU port, where transhipment exceeds 65% of container traffic. The designation is meant to limit calls made to reduce exposure to the scheme.
Hapag-Lloyd's terminal arm, Hanseatic Global Terminals, said on 29 June that it intends to raise its stake in the TC3 terminal at Tangier Med from 10% to 20%, subject to binding agreements and the necessary approvals.
This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 25 September 2026.
