5 Major Ports Of Algeria

Algeria is one of the most important countries in North Africa and a significant trade centre. After Sudan’s breakup in 2011, it became the largest country in the Mediterranean basin. The capital, Algiers, is located on the Mediterranean Coast and is also the largest city in the country.

The international trade of Algeria is heavily dependent on energy products (hydrocarbon reserves, petroleum and related products, etc.) that amount to more than 90% of the country’s total exports.

With the Mediterranean Sea in the North, 95% of Algerian foreign trade is through maritime transport. Fishing is prominent in Northern Algeria, with 35 ports serving as fishing ports and 13 as commercial ports for international exchange.

With a total fleet ownership of 1176 DWT (till 2020), Algeria has a total carrying capacity of 673,000 DWT, including oil tankers, bulk carriers, general cargo ships, container ships, and other smaller freight carriers. The total container port throughput (the number of container ships handled annually) amounts to 1,080,000 TEU.

Algerian ports serve as major storage and forwarding ports for the Middle Eastern Countries of Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Turkey. With proximity to Eastern Europe (Mediterranean countries), Algeria also serves as the forwarding port for countries that export products to North and South America.

Algeria has 13 major commercial ports that serve the country’s international trade transport requirements. Eight ports are general cargo ports, three are mixed ports, and two are energy ports.

Port of Alger: DZALG 

The port of Alger is one of the largest deep-water seaports in Algeria. Its water channel is 22.9m deep, and the cargo pier is 7.6m long. The port is built on the slope of Sahel hills and extends up to 10 miles along the Bay of Algiers. Major towns near the port are Wahran, Tuggurt, Adrar, Algiers, and Medda.

The Port of Alger is managed and operated by Enterprise Portuaire d’ALGER (EPAL) and coordinated by the National Corporation of Maritime Transportation and the Algerian Navigation Company. It opened to traffic in 1998 and handled 2,200 vessel calls and 4,446,231 TEUs in 2019.

The Main Storage Terminal has an expanse of 282 thousand square metres and can store 120,000 MT of goods. Other major facilities of Port of Alger are:

• Potting and Stripping centre of 4800 square metres
• A maintenance workshop of 2000 square metres
• A machine park of 1000 square metres

Port of Skikda: DZSKI 

The Port of Skikda is one of Algeria’s most important oil-exporting ports. Oil from Hasi Messaoud oil fields is carried to the port and exported throughout the world. This port serves as a pivotal point for Eastern and Southern Algeria and manages exports and imports in the nearby Safsaf Valley.

In addition to energy Products, the port handles the export and import of metallurgical products, cereal imports, large equipment, packaged miscellaneous goods, etc.

Enterprise Portuaire d’SKIKDA managed the port, and it was formally opened for traffic in 1982. The new port was constructed in 2014 and has been handling international oil exports since then. However, the development of infrastructure for oil pipelines and refineries has been ongoing since the 1970s.

Port of Arzew: DZAZW 

SERPORT owns and operates the ports of Arzew El-Djedid and Bethioua. These ports are major sources of hydrocarbon exports from Algeria. The Arzew Port Company was founded in 1982, went public in 1989, and has been solely owned by the Algerian State since then.

The port has a channel depth of 10.4 metres, which is ideal for oil tankers and large container ships. The oil terminal is 10.4 metres deep, while the cargo pier has a depth of 7.6 metres.

The maximum size of the vessel that can be accommodated in the port is 500 feet. The port has fixed cranes with a capacity of 24 to 49 MT, and the average annual traffic is recorded at 3000 vessels and nearly 67 million MT of cargo.

The port has ship repair and maintenance facilities, and major town centres are connected through a dense network of railroads.

Port of Oran: DZORAN 

The port of Oran (also called the Port of Wahran) is situated in the coastal city of Oran. It is situated in Western Alegria and is a connecting port between Morocco and the rest of the Mediterranean basin. Oran has been a major commercial and industrial hub of the country since the 1960s.

The port is operated and managed by Enterprise Portuaire d’Oran and coordinated by the Port Services Group and the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. The port had an annual throughput of 278,342 TEUs in 2019. It has a total of 16 units of dockside cranes of 212 MT each and 19 mobile cranes of 480 MT capacity. The port has a channel depth of 10 metres, a cargo pier water depth of 4.6 metres and an oil terminal of 10.6 metres depth.

The port of Oran handles a lot of general imports and cereals as it lies on the North-South Maritime highway. Its proximity to Morocco and Spain allows major imports between Europe and Africa.

Port of Bejaia: DZBJA 

The Port of Bejaia is a large, deep-water seaport and the most important oil port of the western Mediterranean. Through oil pipelines, the port is connected to the Hassi Messaoud oil fields in the south. The city of Bejaia has a number of cork and textile industrial units and is a major trade centre of north-eastern Algeria.

Bejaia is located on the foot of Mount Gouraya, and its shoreline extends to the Cape of Carbon. It is 180 km east of the National Capital City of Algiers. Enterprise Portuaire d’Bejaia manages and operates the port.

The port has a channel depth of 13.7 metres, making it suitable for large vessels and oil tankers (Panamax and Supr-Panamax class ships). The average water depth at the cargo pier and oil terminal is 9.1 metres. Since the early 2000s, the Port of Bejaia has handled hydrocarbons and petroleum products as its major exports.

Providing safe passage to container ships and maintenance services are major priorities of this port. The port has a storage yard covering almost 18000 square metres and an open container ground covering 400,000 square metres. Bejaia port is the only port in Algeria that has the authority to handle dangerous goods, with 6 hangers covering 140,000 square metres each.

Conclusion

Algeria is one of the most important economic centres in Northern Africa due to the impact of French colonisation. Algeria has some of the most important ports, initially set up and operated by the French to promote exchange between France and the colony.

Gradual development and discovery of oil in the Sahara have increased the importance of Algerian ports, as they cover almost 1200 km of coastline between them alone. The ports are ever-expanding, and new facilities are regularly added to improve maritime transportation and trade.

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About Author

Tanumoy is pursuing Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at IMU, Visakhapatnam, India. He is passionate about interactive maritime writing and specializes in writing from a marine designer’s point of view. He is also the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of Learn Ship Design- A Student Initiative.

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