Morocco Cancels Tender to Award Concession for Casablanca Shipyard

Morocco's National Ports Agency (ANP) canceled the tender to award a 30-year concession for the Casablanca shipyard. According to reports from the local press cited by media outlets, the decision reflects a new strategic orientation focused on national sovereignty and control over maritime assets considered critical, rather than the quality of the bids submitted by the participating consortiums.

The process had been launched in April 2025 with the goal of finding a private operator to modernize and manage the shipyard for three decades, with an estimated investment of over 300 million dollars. Preliminary results were originally expected by July 2025, but the announcement of the winner was first postponed to August 2026 and then to December 31, until the ANP ultimately opted to cancel the tender after 18 months of delays. The project envisioned a 21-hectare site with a 244-by-40-meter dry dock, which, if completed, would have made the facility the largest shipyard in Africa.

The initiative was framed within the guidelines set by King Mohammed VI, who in a 2023 speech called for developing a national commercial merchant fleet that is "strong and competitive." That same year, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), a public think tank, had identified shipbuilding as a sector with high growth potential for the Moroccan economy, with the Casablanca shipyard standing out as a flagship project within it. The ANP had already attempted to award the site under concession in 2019 without receiving any bids, and subsequently held unsuccessful negotiations with France's Naval Group.

The tender, relaunched in 2025, had indeed managed to attract major players in the global shipbuilding industry. A consortium made up of Morocco's Somagec, South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Turkey's Kuzey Star Shipyard was competing against another group formed by Morocco's Radi Holding, Spain's Marina Meridional, and China's Ningbo Xinle Shipbuilding Group, while Italy's San Giorgio del Porto had submitted an individual bid. Despite this interest, sources at the ANP stressed that the cancellation was not related to any of the bidders, and the agency has not yet detailed what the next steps for the Casablanca site will be.