The maritime company La Méridionale, which operates in particular the service of freight and passengers to Tanger Med, will sell its activities to the CMA CGM group. Should we see CMA CGM’s return to Morocco in passenger transport, which it left in 2007 when it sold to Comarit, in February 2009, the passenger division of Comanav which it had bought in 2007?
It is Le Marin, a French weekly specializing in maritime information, which reveals the information exclusively: Stef, owner of the shipping company La Méridionale, announced on Tuesday February 7 that it had concluded a transfer agreement with CMA-CGM. Listed on the stock exchange and struggling with financial deadlines, the parent company of La Méridionale has started discussions at “a preliminary stage”. But, according to Le Marin, the deal has been finalized. An explosion in France, especially in Marseille. Information also has strong resonances in the microcosm of maritime transport in Morocco. Indeed, with its takeover of La Méridionale, the world’s third-largest shipowner has set up a new subsidiary and is reconnecting with passenger transport by buying this company, which has been going through chronic difficulties for years and operates in particular the service to Tangier.
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However, the sale of La Méridionale is far from being a surprise given the eventful course of the company for the past two years. The very latest events attest to this feverish atmosphere. So, as we announced it last week, La Méridionale took the decision on February 2 to stop the Barcelona-Tangier line in the coming days with the ship Pelagos (last departure scheduled for February 9) to refocus on Marseille-Tangier with the Girolata.
Launched in December 2020 then operated up to three weekly rotations using two ro-pax (the Girolata, with a capacity of 606 passengers and 230 passenger vehicles, and the Pélagos with 269 passengers and 75 vehicles), the line between Marseille and Tangier, got off to a very good start. But this momentum will be thwarted by the health context since this service was only possible for five months due to the pandemic. Thus, in February 2022, to relaunch the link between Marseille and Tangier, La Méridionale, which had been authorized once more in April 2022 to carry passengers on this link, decided to integrate Alicante (Spain) as a new stopover dedicated to citrus fruits / primeurs before splitting the departure from Tangier into two components: Marseille & Barcelona.
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Today, with this takeover, CMA CGM is returning to ferry traffic for the first time in ten years. Should we see the return to Morocco of CMA CGM in the passenger division that it sold to Comarit two years following the acquisition of Comanav in 2007? Is this the main motivation of the third shipowner on the planet? “In the midst of a pandemic (2020/2021), the return by sea of Moroccans from around the world has shown the strategic need to restore the national fleet of ferries dedicated to long-distance travel. By a curious detour of History, the providential initiative of the CMA CGM authorizes this hope, once morest the backdrop of the domiciliation of this strategic sector within the Comanav by backing the entry of the State into the capital of the latter!”, analyzes Najib Cherfaoui, port and maritime expert.
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For the record, it was in 2007 that CMA-CGM bought Comanav for 200 million euros, which gave it a share of four ships for freight Aknoul (1993−2010), Al Mansour (1998−2015), Oued Eddahab (1998−2013), Oued Ziz (1998) and on the other hand four MARRAKECH ferries (1986−2013), Al Mansour (1998−2015), Ibn Batouta (1998−2015) , Mistral Express (2005−2012), Bni Nsar (2008−2014). In February 2009, the French shipowner sold the passenger division of Comanav to Comarit (80 million euros). The four Comanav ships are thus transferred to Comarit, which operates them under the “Comanav Ferry” brand. Four years later, following cash flow difficulties, Comarit found itself faced with precautionary seizures in European ports, particularly Spain and Italy; which leads to the disappearance of Comanav Ferry, that is to say that there is a loss of the legacy of 40 years of experience in the ferry business (1975-2013).
