Traffic Forecasting in Moroccan Ports

Abstract

A port’s performance requires rigorous and methodical planning to optimize the supply port infrastructure in terms of docking and handling equipment. This planning is based on a mastery of the potential traffic and requires the establishment of contingency plans to deal with the traffic.In Morocco, the port sector has undergone a great change in order for it to be adapted to the evolving socioeconomic environment (internal development, new context of globalization, etc.) and to meet the new economic challenges (institutional, technological, environmental, and maritime).Many opportunities could be offered by this sector if the effectiveness of the maritime logistics chain and if the quality of project’s planning and programming are improved. Predicting traffic is a helpful tool to achieve such objectives. We will discuss within this article the relationship between the governance and the port traffic forecasting process. We use the example of Moroccan ports and examine the characteristics of the port traffic in Morocco in order to deduce a “good estimator” of future traffics.