Willemen Groep, a Belgian conglomerate said it has won a major contract to build the Africa region's first automated container terminal over a 530,000-sq-m area at Tangier MedPort in Morocco.

The Dutch company APM Terminals awarded the contract to the Willemen Groep comprising Aswebo, Aannemingen Van Wellen, Franki Construct and Cosimco.

APM Terminals has been active in the port of Tangier since 2007 and has decided to expand the container terminal to better serve future trade volumes and larger container ships. The facility is strategically located on the Strait of Gibraltar which serves as a shipping hub for many trade lanes.

"To win this enormous project, a team of 35 people, spread across multiple companies within the group worked together on this project for four months," remarked Johan Willemen, the president of Willemen Groep.

"The complementarity of the different companies of the Willemen Groep and the experience we have accumulated in  port works, were crucial factors for the Employer APM Terminals to entrust the entire project to our group," said thetop official.

According to Willemen, the project will be implemented in four ‘packages’ and is due to be competed by 2018.

Package A will comprise all road and sewerage works, the construction of  the pipes for utilities and the pavement and fence works besides the installation of  the ARMG rails to move the containers automatically to and from the terminal.

Package B includes the construction of the 1.2 meters long crane beam, on which the hoisting cranes will be placed. The crane beam is built on 403 poles with a diameter of 1.35 m and a length of no less than 24 m. The poles are drilled in the rock face to a depth of 9 m. This package also contains all concrete works and formworks.

Package C includes the development of all utilities for the entire site. The construction of all buildings (Office building and maintenance workshops) of the terminal and the equipment of the gas station and canopies are in package D. All buildings will be delivered completely finished and ready for use, said the company in a statement.

All works will be carried out in a partnership between Aswebo, Aannemingen Van Wellen, Franki Construct, Cosimco and some local partners, it added.-TradeArabia News Service