ANP: Good Performance of Ports in 2020, Despite Crisis

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The ports managed by the National Ports Agency (ANP) recorded good performance in 2020, despite the global health crisis, according to the Observatory of Moroccan Port Competitiveness (OCPM). “Despite the global health crisis, good performances were recorded in 2020, at the level of the ports managed by the ANP, in particular in terms of improving the handling indicators, the processing of the passage of the main goods through the ports, the control of the stay of ships in ports and the continuation of dematerialization and simplification of port transit procedures via the One Stop Shop, etc.”, said the OCPM, which has just published its report on port performance 2020. The report also recalled that the traffic passing through the ports managed by the ANP reached an overall volume of 92.5 million tonnes at the end of 2020, versus 88 MT in 2019, marking an increase of 5.1% compared to 2019. By type of flow, imports passing through ports managed by the ANP, for the year 2020, amounted to 56.1 MT, against 53.8 MT in 2019, up 4.4% compared to the previous year, noted the same source, adding that this development is mainly due to the increase in imports of cereals (+34.4%), sulfur (8.8%), sulfuric acid (+29.6%) and ammonia (+17.5%). Other types of traffic has been strongly impacted by the global health crisis, in particular container traffic (a 5.7% drop in tonnage and a 4.5% drop in TEUs, hydrocarbons (-11.5%) and steel products (-11.1%). The value of imports fell by 14.1%, amounting to 422 billion dirhams at the end of 2020, said the report. Regarding exports, they increased by 7.6%, compared to the previous year, with a volume of around 33.5 MT. This variation is mainly explained by the increase in exports of fertilizers (+34.3%) and phosphate (+4.3%). Exports of barite, salt and phosphoric acid recorded respective decreases of 64.9%, 78.7% and 9.2%. Containerized traffic recorded an increase of 3.8% in tonnage (3.9 MT) and a decrease of 2.9% in TEU (517,556 TEU). In value, exports of goods amounted to 263 billion dirhams at the end of 2020, down 7.5% compared to the previous year, noted the report.