Port Overview

The Office de la Marine Marchande et des Ports (OMMP) is the port authority for the Port of Bizerte. The Port of Bizerte plays an important role in the social, economic, and cultural life of the city of Bizerte due to its strategic position on the Gibraltar-Suez trade route, its proximity to ports in Southern Europe, and its convenience for the many new industrial estates in the region. 

Bizerte Port, dominated by oil traffic, is privileged by its strategic position on the axis of maritime access GIBRALTAR-SUEZ, its proximity to Southern Europe and the boom of the industrial estates in the region (Menzel Bourguiba, Menzel Jemil and Utique), the business park of Bizerte (former free zone) and the natural, historical and archaeological picturesque sites, the port of Bizerte-Menzel Bourguiba is called upon to play a predominant role in the socio-economic and cultural development of the city of Bizerte and its back country. Thus, between a strategic maritime position and the developed terrestrial accesses, the port provides to industrialists, investors and tourist professionals an essential commercial tool for conquering Europe and the Mediterranean market.

Nautical Data - Approach: signaled by 24 lights and 07 markup buoys, is done by:

• 2 passes between piers and breakwater
• 350 m wide North Pass
• 650 m wide south pass.
• a canal crossed by a mobile bridge offering a 75 m wide passage with a 13 m draft.

La Houle: It is from North-East to South sector.

Tides: the amplitude of the tides is often less than 40 cm and sometimes reaches 1 m.

The currents: the current regime is regular in good weather.

Dominant Winds: In winter, from west to northwest. In summer from South-East to North-East. Winter winds can reach 30 knots.

Infrastructures:

• Basins
• Before port: 52 ha, at 13 meters (Marina: 34 ha).
• Canal port: 28.8 ha, 12 meters away.
• Sebra Bay: 46 ha, 10 meters away.

The commercial port of Bizerte offers a total length of quays with a length of 1,721 m.

• Protective structures: the harbor is protected by 2 piers:
• The North pier, oriented East - West, 1025 m long, protects the port against the prevailing winds from West to North - West, especially in winter.
• The East pier, oriented North - South, 940 m long, protects the port from the North - East winds.
• Between the two piers, a 610 m long breakwater mole opposes offshore swells and silting up.

Services:

• Road access:
  • A main entrance located at the right of the trade quay.
  • An exit located west of the bonded area.
  • 4 secondary doors, for rescue. 
• Rail access: The port rail network is exclusively normal gauge. It is linked to the SNCFT station.

In 2019, the Port of Bizerte handled 5.8 million tons of cargo and welcomed 558 vessels. Of the total cargo volume, 4.7 million was international traffic and 623 thousand was domestic.  In addition to cargo-handling facilities, the Port of Bizerte contains a shipyard with four dry docks. Located on Lake Bizerte, the shipyards cover 50 hectares, including 50 thousand square meters of covered structures. The Port of Bizerte also contains a business park (formerly a free zone) that has two sites, one in Bizerte and another in Menzel Bourguiba. The business park plays the role of a multi-sector distribution center. 

The multi-purpose Port of Bizerte has direct access to the Mediterranean Sea through a 17-meter deep channel. The Port of Bizerte has easy access to the nation's rail and road networks, and it is only 60 kilometers from the Tunis-Carthage airport.  The Port of Bizerte covers 74 hectares of land area and 161 hectares of water surface. The average depth of the Port of Bizerte is 10 meters. The channel to the commercial docks is 75 meters wide with a draft of 13 meters.  The Port of Bizerte contains 22 thousand square meters of open-air paved storage areas. It also has five warehouses that support port operations with a total of over two thousand square meters. Additional warehouses covering a total of 6.5 thousand square meters are located at the docks.  Port of Bizerte facilities located at Menzel Bourguiba include the North Dock (220 meters long with alongside depth of 5 meters), the Honour Dock (100 meters long with alongside depth of 5.5 meters), and the South Dock (150 meters long with alongside depth of 9.5 meters). 

Port Link : Bizerte Menzel Bourguiba Port

Key port information may also be found at:http://www.maritime-database.com

Port Picture

Description and Contacts of Key Companies

The Office of the Merchant Marine and Ports (OMMP) is the agency responsible of the all administrative and financial activities and coordination.

The maritime companies operating in ports sector play an important role in the development and promotion of Tunisia's foreign trade. In fact, 98% of the foreign trade is carried out by sea through the 7 commercial seaports. These ports handled in 2019 around 33 million tones, 985 passenger miles and 420 passenger cars. The maritime transport and ports sector include almost 560 companies working in the maritime professions, freight forwarders and port professions and offering almost 6000 direct jobs. 

For additional information on port contacts, please see the following link: PORT COMPANIES CONTACT LIST

Port Performance

The port of Bizerte handled almost 5,207,472 MT in 2018, in import, export and transit of goods, against 4,864,533 MT in 2017 (either an increase of 4%). This grew from 3 million mt in 2014 and continuing to grow. That represents a growth of nearly 60% over 2014, and every year since has seen volumes far above planned or expected volumes.

Bizerte Menzel Bourguiba Terminal presents capacity for container up 500,000 TEU, while the design capacity was 160,000 TEU. 

The Alexandria Terminal has: 

• Special Depot for Stripping L.C.L. 
• Special Yard for Stuffing Exported Cargo in Containers

Discharge Rates and Terminal Handling Charges

For information on port rates and charges, please see the following link: tp://www.worldportsource.com/ports/index/TUN.php

Berthing Specifications

In its berthing structures: 

• Standard substations / Commercial quay 5 posts - length: 523 m, draft: for post 1 is -9.30 m and posts 2, 3 and 4, it is -09.65m and post 5 it has a draft of waters of -9.80m.
• Specialist petroleum stations A / B: respective lengths: 250m / 150m - and draft respectively -10.67m / -7.80m.
• Cereal wharf length: 200 m and with a draft: -9.75 m.
• Sugar dock length: 168 m and with a draft: -10 m.
• Tunis-Steel substation: length 120 m - draft: - 9.00 m.
• Cement plant: length: 174 m - draft: -9.00 m.
• OXY quay: length: 16 m - draft: -5.5 m,
• Service dock (for tug docking): length: 120 m - draft: -5.5 m.

The Port of Bizerte contains a total of 1721 meters of quays. It has 520 meters of conventional docks with alongside depths from 9.3 to 9.8 meters. It has another five docks that specialize in handling hydrocarbons, steel, metallurgical products, cement and clinker, and cereals. The oil dock has two berths, one that is 250 meters long with alongside depth of 10.67 meters and another that is 150 meters long with alongside depth of 8.25 meters. The cereals dock, which includes a modern silo, is 200 meters long with alongside depth of 9.75 meters. The Acier steel dock is 120 meters long with alongside depth of 9 meters. The cement dock is 180 meters long with alongside depth of 10.5 meters with an extension that is 120 meters long with alongside depth of 5.5 meters. The OXY dock is 16 meters long with alongside depth of 6.2 meters. 

General Cargo Handling Berths

Port Handling Equipment

The Office de la Marine Marchande et des Ports (OMMP) is a government society which manages all port equipment. The floating comprises 2 pilot boats, 1 floating crane of 50- 90 tons capacity, 4 tugboats, 2 mooring boats and 1 service boats. Four weigh bridges of up to 120 tons capacity are available.

http://ports.com/tunisia/port-of-bizerte-menzel-bourguiba/

Container Facilities 

Customs Guidance

Customs clearance consists of presenting the goods at a Customs office and allocating them a Customs system. On reaching Customs, goods are automatically sorted by the SINDA (Automated Customs Information System) according to certain criteria, especially the nature of the product and the importer. The sorting leads to a system of channels: the "green channel" for goods which present no risk (brief inspection of the documents), the "orange channel" for medium level risks (normal inspection), the "red channel" for extreme risks (complete inspection).

The inspection may consist of x-raying the whole container, but also x-raying or opening each package. When they have been inspected, the goods receive a temporary collection permit which allows them to be stocked for further inspection or a permit for clearance inward. 

For information on customs, please see the following link: 1.3 Customs Information.

Terminal Information

Multipurpose Terminal

The land of 13 Hectares belonging to the public port area of the commercial port of Bizerte, adjacent to the site of the company "CIMENTS DE BIZERTE", overlooking its seafront, on one side, on Sebra bay and on the channel Towards the port of Menzel Bourguiba, on the other side, this land has all the potential to be converted into a port terminal for handling goods through the construction of a quay and development of embankments for storage and handling of goods.

The storage space is made up of warehouses, ground surface and parking spaces.

Multipurpose port handling grain, cement, steel products, clinker and liquid bulk Menzel Bourguiba is a ship building/repair center with four graving docks. Today, the commercial port of Bizerte is experiencing a major boom in terms of development of its economic activity by the very fact of the strategic geographic position in the Mediterranean basin.

Warehouses: The storage facilities available at Lomé Port are summarized hereafter. 

• 3,800 m² of quay-side warehouses,
• 4 transit warehouses of 5,500 m² each,
• 2 warehouses of 25,000 m²
• 1 warehouse of 3,600 m²
• 1 warehouse of 2,000 m²

Ground Surfaces: More than 130,000 m² dedicated to the storage of containers and other goods such as building materials. 

Parking Spaces: The Bizerte port has several parking spaces for trucks and second-hand vehicles: 

• 200,000 m² for secondhand vehicles
• 16,000 m² buffer parking space juxtaposed with the port round about to enable trucks to load within the port
• 30,000 m² space for the stripping of containers
• 10,000 m² Terminal for the parking of trucks and vehicles heading. 

Grain and Bulk Handling 

• breakbulk: Depth 9.8 m. Bulk: Depth 9.7 m.
• Tankers: LOA 250 m., draft 10.6 m., depth 10.6 m.
• Gas: LOA 150 m., draft 8.2 m., depth 8.2 m. 

Main Storage Terminal

About a total port area 55.000 sqm open storage areas 25.200 sqm and covered storage areas 15.560 sqm, and for container storage areas of 12.000 sqm, Bizerte Menzel Bourguiba port’s main Storage capacity was underestimated. Since 2018-2019, an Engineering phase of its extension project started. Bidding process: 2019 and Construction Phase: 2020-2021 is planned to start an open-air storage with a capacity of 80,000 tons. The storage area will be laid out near the future berth of the company 50 m away from the planned storage station.

Another facility available at the terminal is the provision of reefer facilities for refrigerated containers.

The project is managed by the government authorities as follows:

• Unloading at berth: Pet Coke is hauled in bulk carriers specially designed for construction materials (clinker, sand, gravels, etc...) with Deadweight tonnage ranging 10 000 - 20 000 DWT. As a general rule, the bulk carriers concerned are fitted with their own cranes and gantry cranes for unloading from ship to berth. In view of the large volumes handled and the cost of berthing fees the ships unload in bulk. Usually the cement plants have their own depots at the wharf and supply the plant by trucking.
• Supplying the storage zone: Conveying the pet coke from berth to storage station will be by enclosed conveyor belts. The coke will access the 5m high unloading dike along a ramp and unload at the reception dike. The whole facilities including unloading dikes and storage areas is confined within a 3m high net raising above the dike level.
• Storage area arrangement: A concrete slab is provided over the whole storage area with dimensions governed by the zone area, the maximum storage load, the loaded truck weight and the weight of the front-end loaders. The slab will be designed with a slope of 2 %, to prevent from stagnation of rainwater, dedusting and possibly firefighting effluents.
• Handling of PETCOKE inside the storage area: Unloading is done from the protection dike, such that the pet coke owing to its granular properties will slide over the dike embankment. As the coke piles up it is compacted using front-end loader operating from the dike. Trucks will further extend the stockpile by unloading laterally around the dike with adequate compaction.

Stevedoring

OMMP performs all stevedoring activities which consist of the loading and unloading of ships and the performance of various tasks required when the vessel is in port, including lashing and unlashing of cargo.

Hinterland Information

Goods are transported out of the port by trucks. Most trucking companies are members of the OMMP and all trucking companies operating at the port must be registered with the Shipping Association of Tunisia (AMT). There are also vessels that depart from Tunisian ports and travel coastwise east to Asian countries crossing Suez canal that transport cargo to that region of the North African and Middle east. Most others is travelling out of Mediterranean sea to Atlantic ocean.

Port Security

• 24/7 monitoring the port and extension areas with 300 CCTV cameras
• Running all Port Operations by the Terminal Operating System. (TOS)
• Monitoring port operations online by the users