It is a long way in every sense from the green hillside location of Tangier’s container terminals to the patch of desert that has become Dubai’s huge Jebel Ali port. But the developers of the Tangier-Med port complex have taken much of their inspiration from the Gulf facility.

Their hopes of emulating the success of Jebel Ali, which last year was the world’s sixth-busiest container port, rest on an area behind the terminals set aside for manufacturing and distribution developments.