Maersk: Morocco gains ground as preferred sourcing destination for European businesses

Morocco is emerging as a compelling alternative for European companies seeking to diversify and shorten their supply chains, according to a new report by Maersk published on Friday.

The report highlighted that over 64% of European businesses have adjusted their sourcing strategies in response to global supply chain disruptions.

The trend toward relocating production closer to final markets is driven by the desire for greater flexibility and reduced reliance on single-source materials.

As a strategic neighbor to the EU, the report emphasized that Morocco is capturing the attention of 4% of European companies exploring new sourcing options.

It mentioned that despite a longstanding free trade agreement, trade between the EU and Morocco is poised for significant growth, and recent global challenges have accelerated the shift of supply chains towards Africa, including Morocco.

“We have seen the nearshoring trend continue, and European businesses are showing increasing willingness to trade with Morocco and other African countries,” stated Emilio de la Cruz, Managing Director of South West Europe at Maersk.

However, the surge in truck traffic between Morocco, Spain, and France has overwhelmed existing infrastructure, he said.

For this reason, de la Cruz emphasized that “there was a big missing link that would connect these countries in line with growth in trade.”

The report further noted that Morocco heavily relies on sea trade, with its flagship port, Tangier Med, being a regional leader—second largest container port in the Middle East and North Africa.

While the country has made strides in maritime infrastructure, challenges persist in inland transportation, it highlighted.

However, “despite these limitations, the existing infrastructure offers the possibility to connect the south of the country with its port in the north,” underscored the same source.

“We wanted to find synergies within the current network and our current customers and identify where we can add the piece that is missing, and that is how we developed our Morocco Bridge solution,” said the Managing Director at Maersk.

Morocco Bridge, according to the report, is a new multimodal transportation service linking Morocco with Spain and Europe.

By reducing congestion and carbon emissions, Morocco Bridge, combining rail, truck, and ocean transport, aims to boost trade between Morocco and the EU while maintaining delivery speed and reducing congestions as well as carbon footprint.

“Our customers doing business between the EU and Morocco work in specialty industries with tight deadlines and short lead times, and our solution had to reflect that – we needed to switch from talking days of lead time to hours,” he underscored.