Tanger Med Welcomes One of World’s Largest Container Ships
Tangier – The CMA CGM Notre-Dame, one of the largest container ships in the world, made a landmark call on Monday at the TC2 container terminal of Tanger Med Port, underscoring the facility’s growing strategic importance in global shipping networks.
Operating on the flagship French Asia Line (FAL 3), which connects major Asian and European ports, the LNG-powered vessel will now include Tanger Med as a regular stop.
The move further consolidates the Moroccan port’s position as the leading maritime hub in both the Mediterranean and Africa, as well as a key partner of the CMA CGM Group.
Commissioned in May 2026, the next-generation vessel boasts a capacity of 24,212 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). Following its christening ceremony in Le Havre, the ship completed inaugural calls in Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Antwerp before arriving in Tanger Med, where it docked at the Eurogate-operated TC2 terminal.
Speaking to the press, Florian Goupil, CEO of CMA CGM Morocco, welcomed the milestone, describing Tanger Med as “a strategic partner and a major hub in our global maritime network.”
“As one of the largest container ships in the world and the biggest under the French flag, the CMA CGM Notre-Dame reflects our commitment to innovation and the decarbonization of maritime transport,” he said.
Goupil also highlighted the group’s longstanding presence in Morocco and its continued investments in port infrastructure, emphasizing confidence in the country’s logistics potential and its role in supporting Morocco’s foreign trade growth.
From the port authority side, Adil Aït Oualil, Director of Maritime Operations at the Tanger Med Port Captaincy, noted that the vessel’s call demonstrates the port’s capability to handle the world’s largest ships.
He revealed that in 2025, Tanger Med recorded nearly 17,000 vessel calls, including 1,300 ships exceeding 290 meters in length. This performance, he said, is driven by world-class infrastructure, high terminal productivity, and skilled human resources across pilotage, port services, and operations.
Aït Oualil further stressed the port’s advances in digitalization and continuous operational optimization, ensuring efficient, secure, and high-quality services for global shipping lines.
Captain Marine-Caroline Guillou of the CMA CGM Notre-Dame praised the smooth docking operation, calling it “a textbook maneuver” and commending the port’s “extraordinary pilotage service” that ensured a safe berthing.
To mark the occasion, commemorative trophies were exchanged between the ship’s command, CMA CGM representatives, and Tanger Med port authorities.
The CMA CGM Notre-Dame is the first in a series of ten 24,000-TEU container ships registered under the French flag, forming part of the group’s broader strategy to accelerate the decarbonization of maritime transport. Designed to run on LNG, the vessel is also compatible with bio-LNG and, in the future, synthetic e-methane.
CMA CGM currently operates one of the world’s largest fleets of dual-fuel vessels and continues to invest heavily in low-carbon technologies. The group aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and plans to have nearly 200 low-emission-capable container ships in operation by 2031.