Port of Casablanca

Port of Casablanca

The Port of Casablanca (Arabic: ميناء الدار البيضاء‎‎ , French: Port de Casablanca ) refers to the collective facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade handling functions in Casablanca's harbours and which handle Casablanca's shipping. The port is located at 33°36′N 7°37′W / 33.600°N 7.617°W / 33.600; -7.617Coordinates: 33°36′N 7°37′W / 33.600°N 7.617°W / 33.600; -7.617 near Hassan II Mosque.

The port of Casablanca is considered as Morocco's and as one of the largest artificial ports in the world, although the port of Tangiers-Med to the North of Morocco is a cargo port located about 40 km from Tangiers, and is the largest port on the Mediterranean and in Africa by capacity and went into service in July 2007. Its initial capacity was 3.5 million shipment containers.[1] It is also the largest port of the Maghreb and North Africa.[2]

Casablanca's port treats a traffic of more than 21,3 million tons per annum, that is to say 38% of the national traffic, and carries out a sales turnover of more than 894 Million Moroccan Dirhams.[3] With an extent of 605 hectares and extending to more than 8 kilometers in length. It can accommodate and treat more than 35 ships at the same time.[3]

The port is managed by Marsa Maroc, the successor of ODEP (Office D'Exploitation des Ports), a publicly owned establishment which has the principal role of ensuring the management of passengers, goods and ships forwarding by the Moroccan ports.

History

The Portuguese wet dock in 1572 which correspond to the current dry dock
The port under construction in 1915

Before being named "Casa Blanca" (White house in Portuguese language) by the Portuguese, Casablanca used to be known as Anfa. The Portuguese used the ruins of Anfa to build a military fortress in 1515. In the 19th century, the area's population began to grow as Casablanca became a major supplier of wool to the booming textile industry in Britain and shipping traffic increased (the British, in return, began importing gunpowder tea), a key ingredient in Morocco's national drink, mint tea. By the 1860s, there were around 4,000 residents, and the population grew to around 9,000 by the late 1880s .[4] Casablanca remained a modestly sized port, with a population reaching around 12,000 within a few years of the French conquest and arrival of French colonialists in the town, at first administrators within a sovereign sultanate, in 1906.

The Moroccan administration of the time entrusted to the "Compagnie Marocaine" the construction of a small port whose water surface to be sheltered does not exceed 10 hectares. The work started in 1906, consisted of the construction of two small piers out of grip of share and others of the wet dock. The port of Casablanca began to be developed in 1906.

After completion in 1938, the configuration of the port had taken form and included a water level of a surface of 125 hectares, moles, quay levels and quays for the accosting of the trading ships.

The port has been knowing important works of extension including the prolongation of the two facilities for phosphates shipping and the completion of citrus fruits facility.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Casablanca - Encyclopedia of the Orient
  2. ↑ Discovering Casablanca - The Africa Travel Association
  3. 1 2 Port de Casablanca - ODEP (French)
  4. ↑ Pennel, CR: Morocco from Empire to Independence, Oneworld, Oxford, 2003, p 121
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