JORF LASFAR, Morocco—ContiTech A.G., a subsidiary of the Continental Corp., has started the construction of a new conveyor belt production facility in Morocco.
According to a company news release, the plant, part of ContiTech Conveyor Belt Group business unit, will manufacture textile and steel-cord-reinforced conveyor belts in the plant in Jorf Lasfar, in the western part of the country.
With production set to being in mid-2016, the 66,000-sq.-ft. facility is expected to create around 120 jobs.
The new plant is part of a cooperation agreement between ContiTech and state-owned phosphate producer OCP S.A.
“Morocco has the largest phosphate reserves in the world. The framework agreement and the new plant will strengthen our commitment in this important market,” Hannes Friederichsen, head of the ContiTech Conveyor Belt Group business unit, said in a news release.
In June 2014, ContiTech and OCP concluded a strategic supply and cooperation agreement, based on which ContiTech provides conveyor belts for OCP.
“We have already been working successfully with ContiTech for 20 years,” said Mustapha El Ouafi, vice chairman of OCP.
“Our large production capacities” he added, “are supported by mining and production facilities of high caliber, equipped with large conveyor systems that enable them to provide a continuous transport service.”
According to ContiTech, more than 700 kilometers of conveyor belts are running in the OCP ‘value chain' —among them conveyor belts from ContiTech.
In addition to the adjacent OCP group, the plant in Jorf Lasfar also will supply customers in the Maghreb and in Sub-Saharan Africa, said ContiTech.