Why to invest or not invest in North African Ports

North African ports have always been subject to an array of different pulls, but the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ is still something of a wildcard despite places like Egypt and Tunisia trying very hard to bring a sense of stability.

This is despite many North African ports identifying themselves more with the southern Mediterranean economies than Africa. After all, TangerMed’s arrival was more of a sting for Algeciras and Valencia than others on the African coast and Tunis’ trade is 70% European.

As Alistair Mackie of Holman Fenwick Willan notes these facilities are very cost effective in terms of shipping, providing little in the way of a detour, lower charges than their European neighbours – and they have a lot more free land.

But it hasn’t just been geography ruling the cargo: there are a number of different links – and barriers.

While some places were already well into the embrace of private partnerships with concessions such as Tanger-Med in Morocco, and Ain Sokhna and Port Said East in Egypt, some places were slower to let the state control go and were just starting out on the transition.

Difficulties from political cross-border barriers and state imposed inefficiencies were common: these ranged from ‘standardised’ port tariffs, which didn’t take into account costs or competition, to lack of adequate legislation to allow ports the role of logistics services integrators. Algeria notably had put in place a number of draconian import-export laws designed, it seemed, to discourage any foreign investment.