Introducción:
Cabe citar que "Nadie más lo hará, luego es tarea del Duque de Wellington" (el propio Duque de Wellington poco antes de su muerte, a los 83 años de edad; gracias por su libro sobre "El Duque de Hierro", Brigadier Richard Holmes; le doy las gracias como historiador de buen hacer que V.E. es y ejemplo de caballerosidad, que por aquí -y por allí- casi no se da: no me extraña para nada que V.E. sea "juez de paz" en su propio pueblo).
Cabe citar que "Nadie más lo hará, luego es tarea del Duque de Wellington" (el propio Duque de Wellington poco antes de su muerte, a los 83 años de edad; gracias por su libro sobre "El Duque de Hierro", Brigadier Richard Holmes; le doy las gracias como historiador de buen hacer que V.E. es y ejemplo de caballerosidad, que por aquí -y por allí- casi no se da: no me extraña para nada que V.E. sea "juez de paz" en su propio pueblo).
El contexto:
El TGrl (r) Tamarit, auxiliado por el Col (r) Cortina -du côte du chez "Pacocascos"- empiezan a disputarle el terreno al GEES en su propia base. Al tiempo, gana mucho en calidad y bizarría Florentino Portero en su "tercera" del neoABC y en su recordatorio de los caidos estadounidenses en Irak. No malmeteré con lo de Bardají en catalán publicado el domingo pasado en El Periódico de Catalunya: es coherente con su trayectoria personal y profesional (me avisaron de ello ciertos expertos nacionalistas catalanes, que conste). De todos modos, sobre Irán, estamos atentos GEES.
El TGrl (r) Tamarit, auxiliado por el Col (r) Cortina -du côte du chez "Pacocascos"- empiezan a disputarle el terreno al GEES en su propia base. Al tiempo, gana mucho en calidad y bizarría Florentino Portero en su "tercera" del neoABC y en su recordatorio de los caidos estadounidenses en Irak. No malmeteré con lo de Bardají en catalán publicado el domingo pasado en El Periódico de Catalunya: es coherente con su trayectoria personal y profesional (me avisaron de ello ciertos expertos nacionalistas catalanes, que conste). De todos modos, sobre Irán, estamos atentos GEES.
En la propia base, entre los militares españoles por oficio, como se demuestra pese a los titulares, hay división de opiniones sobre la aplicación de la LO de la Carrera Militar. Sólo se coincide en acudir a los Tribunales. Como no es mi negociado el de Personal, no entraré en honduras -o El Salvador- sino en el fondo.
Lo dicho, aunque no se tenga ni poder ni ducados, es deber para algunos que entremos en el fondo públicamente: estamos obligados a dar algunos detalles sobre lo que pasa y que pueden costar, de ignorarlos, no puestos en el escalafón, sino sobre todo, sangre de los ciudadanos españoles, civiles o militares. Curiosa la portada de El País.
Lo importante, los que mueren en defensa de nuestra civilización:
Así, en intervención el pasado 19 de septiembre en el Palacio de Blenheim -el del "Mambrú", donde nació su tataranieto W.S. Churchill- en el foro de Oxford Analytica, el Secretario de Defensa de los EE.UU., Robert Gates soltó la siguiente prenda:
Así, en intervención el pasado 19 de septiembre en el Palacio de Blenheim -el del "Mambrú", donde nació su tataranieto W.S. Churchill- en el foro de Oxford Analytica, el Secretario de Defensa de los EE.UU., Robert Gates soltó la siguiente prenda:
"As a military alliance, NATO requires trained, ready and -- above all -- deployable troops, Gates said. NATO is no longer the old garrison force that studied German Defense Plan positions and awaited Soviet tanks. But only five of the 26 NATO nations have met the alliance goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on national defense: France, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Romania and the United States. The European NATO allies have more than 2 million men and women in uniform, but most aren't deployable. The alliance, nonetheless, struggles to scrape together a few thousand more troops and a few dozen helicopters for our commanders in Afghanistan".
Ayer mismo, Gates ajustó el tiro en la National Defense University.
Entre otras posibles, una pregunta (im)pertinente:
¿Algo que informar sobre la gestión al respecto en España los pasados catorce años de bonanza económica? Siento no haber encontrado foto de los UH-1H que sirvieron de "cañoneros de escolta" en el asalto de Perejil, a falta de cualquier otro "bisho" más apto al borde de la guerra... en esa fecha, el fondo era la realidad de hoy: Morocco: Tanger-Med to have huge economic impact; el transfondo, los negocios de algunos con Argelia, entonces... y ahora.
P.S.: A cierta dama de la Ciudad de L.A., I've Got You Under My Skin, la tradicional, y, desde Brasil, Fly Me To The Moon. Hay versión polaca (de Polonia), Troubleshooters, from everywhere. A los "más nuestros": Se hará lo que se pueda (El novio de la muerte). McCain pide a las (sic) congresistas que vuelvan al trabajo para sacar adelante las ayudas, textual a las 0035 gmt+2. Luego se quejan de que servidor sea un socialista español por McCain.
Ayer mismo, Gates ajustó el tiro en la National Defense University.
Entre otras posibles, una pregunta (im)pertinente:
¿Algo que informar sobre la gestión al respecto en España los pasados catorce años de bonanza económica? Siento no haber encontrado foto de los UH-1H que sirvieron de "cañoneros de escolta" en el asalto de Perejil, a falta de cualquier otro "bisho" más apto al borde de la guerra... en esa fecha, el fondo era la realidad de hoy: Morocco: Tanger-Med to have huge economic impact; el transfondo, los negocios de algunos con Argelia, entonces... y ahora.
P.S.: A cierta dama de la Ciudad de L.A., I've Got You Under My Skin, la tradicional, y, desde Brasil, Fly Me To The Moon. Hay versión polaca (de Polonia), Troubleshooters, from everywhere. A los "más nuestros": Se hará lo que se pueda (El novio de la muerte). McCain pide a las (sic) congresistas que vuelvan al trabajo para sacar adelante las ayudas, textual a las 0035 gmt+2. Luego se quejan de que servidor sea un socialista español por McCain.
2 comentarios:
La version completa del articulo de OXFAN. Largo para un comentario.. lo se.
MOROCCO: Tanger-Med to have huge economic impact
Friday, September 26 2008
EVENT: The second container terminal at the Tanger-Med Port near Tangier officially starts operation in November.
SIGNIFICANCE: Tanger-Med, after completion of its recently launched expansion phase, will become by far the largest container port in the Mediterranean and one of the five largest in Europe. It will not only shape the country's economy, significantly pushing down logistical costs, but also create new opportunities in logistics and industries, putting Morocco on the world maritime map and improving its competitiveness as an outsourcing hub for Europe.
ANALYSIS: In 2003, King Mohammed VI launched the Tanger-Med port project, reviving a project that was initially designed in the 1990s (see MOROCCO: Infrastructure projects boost investments - February 17, 2005). In 2007, in response to additional capacity demand, a decision was taken to more than double the initial capacity and tender processes for private-public partnerships were launched the same year:
The project was expanded to comprise four container terminals instead of two, bringing total capacity to 8 million 20 feet equivalent units (TEUs).
The project also now includes a Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) and passenger terminal, a liquid bulk terminal, a bulk and general cargo terminal, and two car carrier terminals.
Tanger-Med started partially operating its first container terminal in July 2007. Construction work for the expansion phase will start early 2009. The complete operation of the entire port including the expansion is scheduled in 2014-15 while the surrounding industrial and logistics free zones are expected to be operational starting from 2009-11.
Location. Built on the northernmost point of Morocco's Mediterranean shore, in a mountainous and technically challenging area, the port will enjoy a strategically unique location, in the strait of Gibraltar at the crossroads of major sea roads, in particular between Europe and Asia through the Suez Canal:
Existing Mediterranean container service ports are all medium sized.
Only Algeciras in Spain and Tanger-Med are able to be competitive on transhipment along the South-North route along the west coast of Africa to Europe, as the others would involve too long a detour from their main route.
Europe also suffers from longer planning and environmental approval processes -- the average gestation period for a greenfield container terminal development is 10-12 years.
Capacity demand. Saturated capacity in Europe and surging global transhipment capacity demand have led to wide interest among global operators looking for additional capacity. Global container terminal throughput has expanded by about four times global GDP growth. In 2000-07, it recorded average growth of 11.1% per annum, compared with respective average growth rates of 7.8% and 2.8% for world trade of goods and global GDP.
By 2007, the need for additional capacity in the region was estimated at 5 to 8 million TEUs. In response the Tanger Med Special Agency (TMSA) launched the expansion project to make it by far Mediterranean's largest port:
The project has attracted great interest as demonstrated by levels of investments and concession fees committed by the winning bidders for the operation of the port's container terminals.
In July, Container Terminal 3 (dedicated to a shipping line) and Container Terminal 4 (multi-user terminal) were awarded respectively to the world's leading shipping line Maersk Line (Denmark) and world's second largest terminal operator PSA (Singapore).
Both hold majority stakes in consortia with local partners. Maersk Line holds a 90% share, alongside Akwa group, a Moroccan leading energy group, while PSA controls 50% of a consortium comprising Morocco's historical port operator Marsa Maroc and the country's leading investment holding company SNI.
Both concessions were awarded through an international competitive tender process where CMA CGM-MSC consortium and APM Moller lost to the winning bidders.
Strong political support. Tanger-Med benefits from King Mohammed VI's strong political will to develop the country's underprivileged northern Rif region, which was widely neglected under the reign of Hassan II (see MOROCCO: No end in sight to cannabis supply - August 23, 2007). He entrusted the project in 2002 to TMSA, a special agency, whose highly regarded manager directly reports to Meziane Belfkih, adviser to the king, making the management and decision-making structure highly efficient.
Infrastructure for the first phase was 39% funded by the Hassan II fund (a privatisation receipts fund) and by grants and loans from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (33%). The remaining 28% was raised at local commercial banks. Infrastructure for the expansion project, although subject to a project finance scheme to be entirely funded by loans and equity raised on the market, benefits from a state guarantee for a large portion of the debt. Next year, additional funds will be brought in by the state fund Caisse de Developpement et de Gestion, via its investment arm, Fipar Holding which agreed in 2008 to acquire a 30% stake in the agency's port activities subsidiary Tanger-Med Port Authority by means of a capital increase.
Gateway to European market. Tanger-Med is designed as an integrated logistical hub with commercial, industrial and logistical free zone areas as well as intermodal facilities. The government has granted the port and these areas tax incentives to attract domestic and international investors in industry and services, building on the port's strategic location. Given the transhipment nature of the business (import/export traffic will only represent a small slice of total traffic), the investments make more economic sense if the port is used not only to improve Moroccan logistical capacity but also to draw investments to enhance the industrial development of the region.
In January, a major deal was sealed with Renault-Nissan for a 1 billion euro (1.47 billion dollar) car manufacturing plant:
The new facility will be located in the port's export-oriented industrial zone, occupying one third of its total area.
It will cater mostly for the European export market, producing by 2015 some 400,000 vehicles per year and creating an estimated 6,000 direct jobs and 30,000 indirect jobs, based on an expected clustering of automotive component manufacturers.
The group's decision to settle in Morocco as opposed to other neighbouring low labour cost countries (Turkey was on the list) was partly motivated by the benefits of being directly connected to a car carrier terminal on a major transhipment hub.
Challenges. Despite the port's enormous competitive advantages, Morocco has yet to prove that skilled labour is available (an estimated 150,000 jobs are to be created) and that an investor-friendly environment including a sound judicial system is on the immediate reform agenda. The government, with the support of the Agence Francaise de Developpement, has plans to launch a training centre to accompany the Renault-Nissan project. Moreover, TMSA has pledged to allocate 1% of its total investments to finance education, training and health programmes.
Other challenges include ensuring security in a context of mounting regional terrorism and illegal immigration. TMSA, with the support of United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), has developed an integrated safety and security system. When fully implemented, the 20 million euro system will ensure compliance with Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism requirements (CTPAT) as well as other major security and safety international standards.
CONCLUSION: Tanger-Med is likely to become the centrepiece of significant development in northern Morocco, generating a much-needed cluster effect and employment to a region that is still living on the informal cannabis trade. Challenges facing the authorities will include providing the necessary skilled labour and ensuring security in a context of mounting regional terrorism and illegal immigration
Salam Alikum, Habibi
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