Getting goods into Casablanca is getting harder as the port handles more cargo. Maersk is now using Tangier as the main entry point for goods heading to the city.
The shipping company has started a regular rail service between Tanger Med and Casablanca. Cargo arrives in Tangier by ship and then travels by train to Casablanca.
The move gives companies another way to bring goods into the country while avoiding delays at Casablanca port.
Casablanca port handled about 17m tonnes of cargo in the first six months of 2026, according to the National Ports Agency. That was 7% more than during the same period last year.
Traffic jumped in June. The port handled 3.53m tonnes during the month, up 32% from June 2025.
Imports made up about 75% of the traffic in the first half of the year, reaching 12.82m tonnes. Cereal imports rose by 13% to 3.3m tonnes, while animal-feed imports increased by 33% to 1.06m tonnes.
Container traffic also increased by 5% to 762,557 TEUs. Roll-on/roll-off traffic rose by 35% to 93,824 units.
How the new route works
Ships bring the cargo to Tanger Med Terminal TC2, operated by APM Terminals.
The containers then travel about 500km by rail to Casablanca. ONCF operates the rail corridor.
The service includes transport by sea and rail, customs clearance, storage and final delivery by truck.
Maersk removed a 1,400 MAD-per-container inland peak-season surcharge for the service on 10 June.
The company says the new route deals with “a challenge we hear from customers every day”.
Ruben Moratinos, Maersk’s Head of Sales Maghreb, said the link between the two ports creates “a simpler way to move cargo into Morocco’s main commercial center.”
The service also gives customers “broader access to global trade flows” and a system that “can support growth as their business evolves.”
Tanger Med has become a major shipping hub. The port handled 11.1m TEUs in 2025 and ranked among the five most efficient container terminals in the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index.
The wider port network is also handling more cargo.
Commercial port traffic across the country reached 148.6m tonnes in the first half of 2026, up 14.4% from a year earlier. Transshipment made up 82.6m tonnes, or more than half of the total.
More capacity is on the way.
Nador West Med is expected to start operating in the fourth quarter of 2026. The $5.6bn port will initially handle up to 5m TEUs a year, with plans to increase that to 12m.
A $10bn rail investment plan will also expand freight and passenger services, including dedicated freight tracks along the Atlantic corridor.
For companies shipping goods into Casablanca, the change is simple: their cargo can now arrive through Tangier and continue by rail to the country’s main business centre.
That could take some pressure off Casablanca port while giving businesses another way to move goods across the country.
