The Office of the Merchant Marine and Ports (OMMP) in Tunisia is a public establishment, endowed with financial autonomy and civil personality on the ports. The OMMP is responsible for exercising two fundamental powers assigned by the government:
- Ensuring and reassuring the treatment in the best conditions of time, cost, safety and security of all ships and goods passing through Tunisian commercial ports (Bizerte, Goulette, Radès, Sousse, Sfax, Gabès, Zarzis).
- Ensure the authority of the maritime administration in three essential areas; the administration of ships, seafarers and maritime safety through the maritime regions (Bizerte, Tunis, Sousse, Monastir, Sfax, Gabès, Jerba).
The Tunisian port chain that extends over 1300 km of coastline is composed of eight commercial ports open to international traffic. The OMMP is represented regionally by seven maritime regions. Each region has a maritime district responsible for the administration of ships and seafarers and a regional maritime security service responsible for the safety of navigation and vessel safety visits.
The Tunisian maritime landscape underwent a reform in the mid-2000s with a view to restructuring and upgrading commercial seaports particularly the port handling sector. The said reform touched on three main areas, namely:
- the work regime in commercial seaports;
- the mode of management of port infrastructures and superstructures;
- and the technical and economic environment of port handling companies.
The Tunisian maritime trade is ensured by 7 commercial ports, namely Bizerte-Menzel Bourguiba, Tunis-Goulette-Radès, the port complex of the capital, Sousse, Sfax, Gabés, Zarzis and the oil port of Skhira. With the exception of the oil port of Skhira, all ports are managed by the OMMP. These ports handle the transit of over 30 million tons of goods (including national cabotage). From 1992, the maritime sector underwent more liberalization. Since then, the private sector has started to take over and we have seen the creation of several companies operating owned vessels, in addition to the national armaments, namely the CTN and COTUNAV.
Main ports in Tunisia
- Bizerte Menzel Bourguiba - dominated by oil traffic.
- Radès - mainly specialized in container traffic and rolling units.
- Goulette - characterized in particular by passenger and cruise ship traffic.
- Sousse - processes the traffic of general goods
- Sfax-Sid Youssef - multipurpose port (Miscellaneous, cereals, etc)
- Gabès - industrial port, trafficking in chemicals.
- Skhira - petrochemical port.
- Zarzis - processes oil and sea salt traffic
Annex 2.1: Government Contact List
