The Virgina Port Authority (VPA) and Morocco's Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency have agreed to jointly boost bilateral trade and implement new services.
Under a pact signed on Wednesday, the ports of Tangier and Hampton Roads in Virginia will exchange information on infrastructure, maritime transportation and trade, reports said.
VPA officials say they are looking to the pact to increase trade volumes between Hampton Roads and Morocco, which they hold to be a "key North African hub" along “a heavily travelled trade route.”
“We want to develop key alliances with major players along the Suez route as we are the port on the US East Coast that is most likely to benefit from development of that trade because of our deep water,” said Jerry A Bridges, VPA executive director.
Analysts say the Suez trade lane connecting India, Asia and the Middle East to Europe and the US East Coast is an important and rapidly growing trade lane.
Tangier is located along the Suez trade lane and many cargo ships that call on Hampton Roads terminals ply that route.
VPA “is trying to get its foot in the door to capture some of Morocco's growing trade, bolstered by a free trade agreement that took effect in 2006,” according to the Daily Press.
Trade between Virginia and Morocco was $193 million last year, which accounted for some 20% of the total container traffic between Morocco and the US East Coast, recent data showed.
“The Moroccan government is currently in the midst of a more than $18 billion investment plan for the 2002-2015 period to take advantage of its status as the only North African country linked with free trade agreements to the US and the EU," a Singapore-based analyst told Portworld.
Morocco had set up the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency and launched the Tánger-Méditerranée (Tangier-Med) project in 2002 to take advantage of the port's close proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar to turn it into a major transshipment and logistics hub.
The first of Tangier-Med's container terminal opened last July. The $2 billion facility has one container terminal with a handling capacity of 3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year, along with oil storage, a cereals terminal and other facilities.
A second terminal is scheduled to begin operating later this year. Costing $1.7 billion, it will have three container terminals, with a projected handling capacity of 5 million TEUs per year.
Under a pact signed on Wednesday, the ports of Tangier and Hampton Roads in Virginia will exchange information on infrastructure, maritime transportation and trade, reports said.
VPA officials say they are looking to the pact to increase trade volumes between Hampton Roads and Morocco, which they hold to be a "key North African hub" along “a heavily travelled trade route.”
“We want to develop key alliances with major players along the Suez route as we are the port on the US East Coast that is most likely to benefit from development of that trade because of our deep water,” said Jerry A Bridges, VPA executive director.
Analysts say the Suez trade lane connecting India, Asia and the Middle East to Europe and the US East Coast is an important and rapidly growing trade lane.
Tangier is located along the Suez trade lane and many cargo ships that call on Hampton Roads terminals ply that route.
VPA “is trying to get its foot in the door to capture some of Morocco's growing trade, bolstered by a free trade agreement that took effect in 2006,” according to the Daily Press.
Trade between Virginia and Morocco was $193 million last year, which accounted for some 20% of the total container traffic between Morocco and the US East Coast, recent data showed.
“The Moroccan government is currently in the midst of a more than $18 billion investment plan for the 2002-2015 period to take advantage of its status as the only North African country linked with free trade agreements to the US and the EU," a Singapore-based analyst told Portworld.
Morocco had set up the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency and launched the Tánger-Méditerranée (Tangier-Med) project in 2002 to take advantage of the port's close proximity to the Strait of Gibraltar to turn it into a major transshipment and logistics hub.
The first of Tangier-Med's container terminal opened last July. The $2 billion facility has one container terminal with a handling capacity of 3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year, along with oil storage, a cereals terminal and other facilities.
A second terminal is scheduled to begin operating later this year. Costing $1.7 billion, it will have three container terminals, with a projected handling capacity of 5 million TEUs per year.