09 July 2008
While they have long complained about their erroding competitiveness in the North Africa, French businesses are making substantial progress in the region, winning lucrative contracts. Although French technology is cutting edge and world-class, the French government has been helping in ways it never did in the past. The Nicolas Sarkozy administration is in no way similar to the Chirac administration in their approaches to promoting French companies. Sarkozy has taken the American approach of promoting his country's commercial interest and is indeed perfecting it to fit in new innovative ways.
This "commercial diplomacy" is benefiting many companies, from BNP-Paribas which managed to grab 19% of Libya's Sahara Bank to Alstom, which has been selling its transport and engineering systems to the region.
This latter is making substantial inroads in the North Africa transport equipment market thanks to the promotion of the company by the French government. The company managed to win a contract to sell a tramway system to Tunisia in a deal financed by the French government, while its presence in Morocco has been strengthened and enhanced by Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Rabat late last year.
Not too long ago, the French industrial group Alstom delivered the first 12 its Citadis trams. This after the company made its first delivery in May 2007, with three trames per month. This is an important contract for Alstom, which delivered altogether a total of 30 units by March 2008.
These units are used to reinforce the metro system of the capital city Tunis. Eighteen of the units will be used along the lines in the southwest of the city, Tunis-Mannouba, west of the capital.
The 30-meter Citadis are assembled in the Alstom facility of La Rochelle in France, with the various components coming from its sites Tarbes, Creusot, Ornans, and Villeurbanne in France.
In Morocco, with a very high speed train frame agreement and contracts in rail transport and power generation, Alstom leveraged the visit of French President Sarkozy to strengthen its presence there as a supplier of transport equipment and other systems. In October 2007, a frame agreement between Morocco and France was signed awarding to French industry, and in particular, Alstom, a partner alongside SNCF and RFF in the world rail speed record, with the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of the very high speed Tangier-Casablanca rail link. The 200 km Tangier-Kenitra section will form the first phase of this project. This link will be used by trains running at 320 kph at commercial speed and should be in operation by 2013.
The choice made by the Moroccan authorities signaled a recognition of French know-how in the very high speed rail sector and paved the way for commercial negotiations, which should be completed in 2008, to implement the project. As part of this project, Alstom is scheduled to deliver 18 very high speed Duplex double deck train sets.
This very high speed rail link project has been studied since 2004. To meet the strong increase in passenger traffic (rising 10 to 15% per year), the Moroccan railway master plan provides for the construction of 1,500 km of high speed rail lines by 2030 to 2035, which will be capable of carrying 120 million travellers on two routes - the Tangier-Marrakech-Agadir "Atlantic link" and the Rabat-Fez-Oujda "Maghreb link". Journey time will be cut from 4 hours 45 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes on the Tangier-Rabat link, from 5 hours to 2 hours 10 minutes for the Tangier-Casablanca link and from 3 hours 30 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes for the Casablanca-Marrakech section.
As a result, Morocco will be the first country in Africa to have a technologically highly advanced rail transport infrastructure, using the same very high speed global standards as in France, which are a reference throughout the world.
Alstom also signed a contract worth €74 million with Moroccan National Railways (ONCF) for the delivery of 20 new generation Prima electric locomotives. With a very high traction power of 6 MW, these locomotives will be used from 2010 throughout the Moroccan network for freight operations at a speed of 120 kph and for passenger service at a speed of 160 kph. The contract also includes the maintenance of these locomotives for two years.
The new generation of Prima electric locomotives is built on a modular platform of fully-proven standardised components to ensure the operational reliability of the rolling stock, ease of maintenance and product evolution.
In addition, Alstom signed a contract in power generation to participate in equipping the future Aïn Béni Mathar power plant. Located some 100 kilometres from Oujda in north-eastern Morocco, this plant will be one of the first gas combined cycle power plants in the world to also use solar energy. It will generate a total of 470 MW, 20 MW of which will come from solar energy collected by a 183,000 m² field of solar panels. Most of the electrical power will be produced by two GT13E2 gas turbines, a steam turbine and three air-cooled turbogenerators supplied by Alstom. The order, awarded to Alstom by the Spanish firm Abener (Abengoa Group) on behalf of Morocco's Office National d'Electricité (ONE) and which includes long-term maintenance, is worth over €200 million.
By associating solar power and gas combined cycle combustion technologies, the Aïn Béni Mathar plant will increase the use of renewable energy sources in Morocco and reduce the cost of producing electricity while limiting greenhouse gas emissions (CO2).
Alstom has been operating in Morocco for over 40 years and is one of the major suppliers to the country's Office National d'Electricité (ONE). It built the Jorf Lasfar power plant (4 X 330 MW) and one of the most sophisticated hydropower complexes in the world at Afourer. Over half the electricity consumed in Morocco is generated using Alstom-sourced equipment. In the field of rail transport, Alstom is also a first-line supplier to the country's Office National des Chemins de Fer (ONCF) for rolling stock and signalling systems.
The high speed rail link project, like the contracts for delivering the Prima locomotives and equipment for the Aïn Béni Mathar power plant (these latter two represent a total of €270 million) and its engagements in Tunisa, make Alstom a significant supplier of transport and engineering services to North Africa, a position likely to stregthen as the company continues to seek opportunties in nearby Algeria and Libya. This is a position that clearly has been enhanced by the French government's "commerce diplomacy."
While they have long complained about their erroding competitiveness in the North Africa, French businesses are making substantial progress in the region, winning lucrative contracts. Although French technology is cutting edge and world-class, the French government has been helping in ways it never did in the past. The Nicolas Sarkozy administration is in no way similar to the Chirac administration in their approaches to promoting French companies. Sarkozy has taken the American approach of promoting his country's commercial interest and is indeed perfecting it to fit in new innovative ways.
This "commercial diplomacy" is benefiting many companies, from BNP-Paribas which managed to grab 19% of Libya's Sahara Bank to Alstom, which has been selling its transport and engineering systems to the region.
This latter is making substantial inroads in the North Africa transport equipment market thanks to the promotion of the company by the French government. The company managed to win a contract to sell a tramway system to Tunisia in a deal financed by the French government, while its presence in Morocco has been strengthened and enhanced by Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Rabat late last year.
Not too long ago, the French industrial group Alstom delivered the first 12 its Citadis trams. This after the company made its first delivery in May 2007, with three trames per month. This is an important contract for Alstom, which delivered altogether a total of 30 units by March 2008.
These units are used to reinforce the metro system of the capital city Tunis. Eighteen of the units will be used along the lines in the southwest of the city, Tunis-Mannouba, west of the capital.
The 30-meter Citadis are assembled in the Alstom facility of La Rochelle in France, with the various components coming from its sites Tarbes, Creusot, Ornans, and Villeurbanne in France.
In Morocco, with a very high speed train frame agreement and contracts in rail transport and power generation, Alstom leveraged the visit of French President Sarkozy to strengthen its presence there as a supplier of transport equipment and other systems. In October 2007, a frame agreement between Morocco and France was signed awarding to French industry, and in particular, Alstom, a partner alongside SNCF and RFF in the world rail speed record, with the design, manufacture, operation and maintenance of the very high speed Tangier-Casablanca rail link. The 200 km Tangier-Kenitra section will form the first phase of this project. This link will be used by trains running at 320 kph at commercial speed and should be in operation by 2013.
The choice made by the Moroccan authorities signaled a recognition of French know-how in the very high speed rail sector and paved the way for commercial negotiations, which should be completed in 2008, to implement the project. As part of this project, Alstom is scheduled to deliver 18 very high speed Duplex double deck train sets.
This very high speed rail link project has been studied since 2004. To meet the strong increase in passenger traffic (rising 10 to 15% per year), the Moroccan railway master plan provides for the construction of 1,500 km of high speed rail lines by 2030 to 2035, which will be capable of carrying 120 million travellers on two routes - the Tangier-Marrakech-Agadir "Atlantic link" and the Rabat-Fez-Oujda "Maghreb link". Journey time will be cut from 4 hours 45 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes on the Tangier-Rabat link, from 5 hours to 2 hours 10 minutes for the Tangier-Casablanca link and from 3 hours 30 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes for the Casablanca-Marrakech section.
As a result, Morocco will be the first country in Africa to have a technologically highly advanced rail transport infrastructure, using the same very high speed global standards as in France, which are a reference throughout the world.
Alstom also signed a contract worth €74 million with Moroccan National Railways (ONCF) for the delivery of 20 new generation Prima electric locomotives. With a very high traction power of 6 MW, these locomotives will be used from 2010 throughout the Moroccan network for freight operations at a speed of 120 kph and for passenger service at a speed of 160 kph. The contract also includes the maintenance of these locomotives for two years.
The new generation of Prima electric locomotives is built on a modular platform of fully-proven standardised components to ensure the operational reliability of the rolling stock, ease of maintenance and product evolution.
In addition, Alstom signed a contract in power generation to participate in equipping the future Aïn Béni Mathar power plant. Located some 100 kilometres from Oujda in north-eastern Morocco, this plant will be one of the first gas combined cycle power plants in the world to also use solar energy. It will generate a total of 470 MW, 20 MW of which will come from solar energy collected by a 183,000 m² field of solar panels. Most of the electrical power will be produced by two GT13E2 gas turbines, a steam turbine and three air-cooled turbogenerators supplied by Alstom. The order, awarded to Alstom by the Spanish firm Abener (Abengoa Group) on behalf of Morocco's Office National d'Electricité (ONE) and which includes long-term maintenance, is worth over €200 million.
By associating solar power and gas combined cycle combustion technologies, the Aïn Béni Mathar plant will increase the use of renewable energy sources in Morocco and reduce the cost of producing electricity while limiting greenhouse gas emissions (CO2).
Alstom has been operating in Morocco for over 40 years and is one of the major suppliers to the country's Office National d'Electricité (ONE). It built the Jorf Lasfar power plant (4 X 330 MW) and one of the most sophisticated hydropower complexes in the world at Afourer. Over half the electricity consumed in Morocco is generated using Alstom-sourced equipment. In the field of rail transport, Alstom is also a first-line supplier to the country's Office National des Chemins de Fer (ONCF) for rolling stock and signalling systems.
The high speed rail link project, like the contracts for delivering the Prima locomotives and equipment for the Aïn Béni Mathar power plant (these latter two represent a total of €270 million) and its engagements in Tunisa, make Alstom a significant supplier of transport and engineering services to North Africa, a position likely to stregthen as the company continues to seek opportunties in nearby Algeria and Libya. This is a position that clearly has been enhanced by the French government's "commerce diplomacy."
© The North Africa Journal 2008
