A land filled with mountains and deserts, Morocco nevertheless has a population of 33 million and contains many populous cities such as the capital Rabat, the largest city Casablanca, Marrakesh, Tangier, Fes, and many more. Long known as the “Gateway to Africa” because of its strategic position at the juncture of the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, Morocco has been important to the global economy historically and still is today.
Morocco is 5th in GDP among African nations and has maintained steady annual economic growth of four to five percent for much of the 21st Century. Its main industries are: mining, construction, textiles, telecommunications, tourism, and fishing. Agriculture and textile manufacturing combined make up 85 percent of the workforce, but phosphate mining is the economic leg Morocco leans most heavily upon since it is the world’s number three phosphate producer and fluctuations in the price of phosphate have a huge impact on the Moroccan economy.
While the road system presently connects all the major cities of Morocco, the nation has big infrastructure improvements both planned and underway. For example, a $15 billion project to improve the country’s roads, sea ports, and airports began in 2002 and is scheduled to be completed in 2015. Highways are being built at a rate of 100 km (60 mi) a year- up from 40 km (25 mi) in the 1990’s. This promises to add significantly to the 57,000 km (35,000 mi) of roadways already in place- many of them originally constructed under Spanish colonial rule and well-maintained and further improved since that time.
An ambitious high-speed rail system is also in the works which aims at 1,500 km (930 mi) of track by 2035. Its first stage (Tangier to Casablanca) is set to begin operating in 2015. There are a dozen major airports in the nation, the main one being located next to Casablanca. As to sea ports, there are two dozen of them stretched along Morocco’s vast coast, but Casablanca is by far the most important (it handles half of all the freight tonnage). The port at Tangier, however, is up and coming due to a major development project that plans to make its facilities much more robust.
If you are in need of shipping freight in or out of Morocco, we can offer you our services to select the best companies and arrange all the details of route, shipping insurance, customs duties, etc. We have agents stationed in Morocco who excel in making your goods move with rapidity to their intended destination at the lowest possible cost and with all due concern for safety.
For comprehensive logistics solutions that fit your needs from Morocco to anywhere or, anywhere to Morocco.
