Ship chandlers & ship supply at Tanger Med MAPTM

Tanger Med Port Authority (TMPA), a public limited company set up in 2008 and given the public powers to manage and develop the port complex by decree-law in January 2010, runs three ports: Tanger Med 1 (two container terminals plus rail, hydrocarbon, general cargo and vehicle terminals), Tanger Med 2 (two container terminals) and the Passengers & Ro-Ro port.^[1]

—Traffic in 2025: 11,106,164 TEU (+8.4%), 161 million tonnes of cargo (+13.3%) and 16,686 vessel calls (−4.5%), including 1,319 calls by ships over 290 m. Liquid bulk reached 8.64 million tonnes (+13%), largely hydrocarbons; the port also handled 3.22 million passengers and 535,203 trucks.^[2]

—Container terminals: TC1 (APM Terminals) and TC2 (Eurogate), 800 m of quay each; TC3 (Tanger Alliance), 800 m; and TC4 (APM Terminals MedPort Tangier), 2,000 m. The group gives the container port an 18 m depth; TMPA credits 2025 growth mainly to the commissioning of TC4’s latest extension.^[3,4,2]

—Other terminals: a general cargo terminal with 13.5 m draft, a Ro-Ro terminal with 8 quay positions at 8 m, and a passenger port with 8 berths and a nominal capacity of 7 million passengers a year.^[4,5]

The hydrocarbons terminal, a concession held by HTTSA and operational since February 2012, stores 532,000 m³ of refined products in 19 tanks and has berths for ships up to 250 m and up to 170 m. Its activities are transhipment and trading, imports of refined products, and bunkering.^[6]

—Bunkering is subcontracted by HTTSA to Minerva Bunkering, which delivers IMO 2020-compliant fuels by barge inside the port and at the Tanger Med West and Tanger Med East anchorages (up to 16 anchor points), with 7 barges of 6,700 t, 24/7. TMPA says about 80% of deliveries are made at anchor and offers crew changes, provisions and spare parts alongside.^[7]

—The 2025 tariff book also provides for bunkering by tank truck inside Tanger Med 1. A ship that uses the West or East anchorage only for bunkering pays the nautical dues but is exempt from stay dues for 48 hours from crossing the port limit.^[9]

—Volume: TMPA says more than 1.6 million tonnes of bunkers have been delivered since bunkering began in 2011; in 2020 bunker supply was almost 1.6 million tonnes of the port’s liquid bulk (Ship & Bunker).^[7,8]

—Pilotage is provided by TMPA and is compulsory for ships of 50 m LOA or more in the compulsory pilotage zone, and whenever port towage is used. Exempt are Moroccan warships, fishing vessels and tugs, port-service craft, short shifts along a quay without tugs, and masters holding a pilotage exemption certificate.^[9]

—TMPA has 27 active pilots and runs the service 24/365 on VHF 14. Port VTS covers the basins, roads and anchorages around the clock, also on VHF 14; the harbour master’s berth planner validates terminal schedules and orders pilots, tugs and mooring, and large ships book firm slots.^[10,11]

—Towage: Boluda at Tanger Med 1 (5 ASD tugs, 60 t bollard pull) and Svitzer at Tanger Med 2 (4 tugs, 90 t). Mooring: Société de Lamanage du Détroit across the complex except TC1 and TC2, where APM Terminals and Eurogate moor ships.^[12,13]

—GIBREP: the Strait’s mandatory reporting system (IMO MSC.300(87), in force 1 December 2010) applies to ships of 300 GT and over, among others. Eastbound ships report to TANGIER TRAFFIC on VHF 69 (68 supplementary) when crossing 005°58′W, and ships leaving Tanger Med’s ports and anchorages report to Tangier Traffic.^[14]

—Ship chandling at Tanger Med is authorised by TMPA only, in port and at the anchorages, and covers stores, provisions, bonded and duty-free goods, medicines, chemicals, paint and spares — not fuel, electricity or water. Delivering to an anchored ship by boat needs prior harbour master approval and a security inspection.^[15]

—Launch service: TMPA’s “taxi rade”, an 18 m catamaran for 12 passengers and 5 t of cargo, runs 24/7 to the West and East anchorages for crew changes, surveyors, chandling deliveries, MARPOL V garbage and packaged lubricants.^[16]

—Fresh water is supplied from the port network at the TMPA tariff (€1.235/m³ in the 2025 tariff book, plus a connection charge).^[9]

—MARPOL waste: SERTEGO runs the oily-waste station and also takes scrubber washwater; Tanger Med Utilities collects sewage and garbage, by tanker truck. Repairs are afloat only — alongside, weather permitting, within the call window; there is no dry dock.^[17,18]

—Port calls run through the Tanger Med Port Community System, which also files EU entry summary declarations (ENS).^[19,9]

—Provisions, stores, spares and deliveries at anchor: post a requirement and suppliers serving Tanger Med answer with sealed bids; suppliers never see the vessel’s name until award. If you supply ships here, activate Tanger Med. Across the Strait, see the Algeciras guide and the Gibraltar guide.