The Netherlands’ APM Terminals has been named as the operator of a new container transhipment terminal at the Tangier-Med 2 port complex, under a 30-year concession agreement signed with the Tangier Med Special Agency (TMSA).

The terminal, which is understood to have required €758m ($863m) in investments, is scheduled to open in 2019 and have a capacity of 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), according to an APM Terminals statement.

This will bring the total port capacity to more than 9 million TEUs.

APM Terminals has been operating a facility at the Tangier-Med 1 since July 2007, which handled 1.7 million TEUs in 2015.

The facilities operated by the APM Terminals is understood to have up to 2,000 metres of quay length. Of this, 1,200m have been completed by the Tanger Med Port Authority, a subsidiary of the TMSA, main developer of the Tanger Med Port Complex.

The Tanger-Med port complex is strategically located on Africa’s northwest coast near the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea on the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea meet. It is the second-busiest container port on the African continent after Port Said in Egypt, the company said.

The company said it will create a new office in Tangier, create a “large number” of new jobs and will be responsible for the completion of the terminal yard, surface, buildings, container handling equipment and integrated automated systems.

Special Report: Morocco