Construction was officially launched by King Mohammed VI last week on the Tangier-Med Industrial Park in Morocco, which will feature a vehicle industrial complex to support Africa’s biggest car factory, currently being built by the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
The €600m Greenfield plant, due for completion at the end of 2010/beginning 2011, will be based in the Melloussa Free Zone, a dedicated automotive park, which is generating investment worth $1.8 billion, including logistics provision.
Renault spokeswoman Axelle de Ladonchamps told Automotive Logistics that while it is too early to specify the models due for assembly (or who will move them), the Renault models would be based on the Logan platform while the Nissan models would be light commercial vehicles. In the first phase annual production will reach 200,000 with an eventual target of double that figure.
Renault expects to generate 6,000 direct jobs at the plant and 30,000 indirectly in the supplier activity – more than 10 per cent of the expected total employment at the park.
Renault-Nissan was attracted to Morocco’s Tangier-Med port because of the supplier and logistics facilities now under construction, and the development of the port as one of the biggest transhipment platforms in the world.
The Tangier-Med project, which was started in July 2002, will significantly increase the port’s capacity making it able to accommodate 8 million containers and cover 5,000 hectares.
