Let's explore the Port of Casablanca and the adjacent districts of Sidi Belyout and La Foncière and wander through streets steeped in history!

The port of Casablanca is currently the second largest Moroccan port, behind that of Tangier Med. Located at the bottom of a harbor, between the rocky points of El Hank (to the west) and Oukacha (to the east), this port is mainly focused on trade. It covers 450 hectares and has a 17-kilometer railway network. It can handle and accommodate up to 40 ships at a time.

The history of the port of Casablanca is centuries old… and tormented ! As early as the 15th century, there are traces of exports of wheat, starches and wool called "Anafil" (i.e. from Anfa) to Portugal and Genoa from the port of Casablanca. Later, in 1785, Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah granted two Spanish companies a monopoly on the export of cereals from the Port of Casablanca. He thus inaugurated what we would call today a commercial policy of encouraging exports.

From 1830, as steam navigation and trade around the Mediterranean developed, traders from France, England and Germany opened trading posts in Casablanca. In 1862, the first Marseille-Casablanca-Marseille maritime line was set up by the Compagnie de Navigation Paquet.

Despite all these achievements, the Port of Casablanca was still, at the end of the 19th century, only a small port for barges. It was not until 1907 that construction and development work on a modern port was launched, under the authority of the French. They then imagined a port protected from the swell by a transverse jetty (the current Moulay Youssef Jetty) which secured the artificial harbor and the port's activities. In 1923, the new Port was officially inaugurated and the era of barges came to an end. The first landings at the quay were organized and the development of the port led to an influx of Moroccan, French and European migrants to Casablanca.

From the 1920s to today, the Port of Casablanca has never stopped evolving, a real permanent construction site ! He has adapted, with extraordinary flexibility, to the major changes that have marked the world of maritime transport. Come and discover his fantastic saga with CitizOn, and explore the dynamic districts of Sidi Belyout and La Foncière.