APM Container Terminal—Tangier Med Port 
Tangier, Morocco 
Award of Merit

Owner APM Terminals
Design Firm, Civil, Structural & MEP Engineer AECOM
Contractor Willemen Groep
Construction Manager Hill International

Facing aggressive milestones for commercial operation of Africa’s first fully automated container terminal, the project team had to act quickly to deliver the 1.2-kilometer-long facility. Located on the Strait of Gibraltar in Morocco, the project expands and adds the latest cargo-handling technology to an existing facility owned by APM Terminals, resulting in the continent’s largest and most technologically advanced container terminal. The facility can accommodate 35,000 dry containers.

To meet the Jan. 1, 2019, milestone for commercial operation, the owner fast-tracked the project by requiring design, procurement and construction to proceed nearly simultaneously. As a result, civil designers couldn’t integrate all final equipment purchase details until later in the project. To address this, the project team regularly held workshops with stakeholders from around the globe to coordinate design.

To address the necessary design changes—including revisions to the site’s layout two months after receiving notice to proceed—the project team issued 140 change orders, processed 35 value-engineering concepts and accepted 13 other design changes just prior to construction start.

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