Morocco lets OCP move its phosphate logistics into separate companies that can bring in investment funds

Morocco has cleared OCP to move its phosphate logistics into two new companies that can take in private investors. The government has authorized the state-owned phosphate and fertilizer giant to set up two wholly owned subsidiaries, according to two government decrees cited by Asharq Business. Mzinda Logistic I will handle transport and cargo handling between Mzinda and Safi. Mzinda Logistic II will run storage at Safi’s industrial and port facilities. No partners or values have been disclosed.

The government says the split will make OCP’s logistics easier to partner on. Placing them in independent legal entities with their own governance will improve transparency and efficiency, the government says, according to Asharq. It also opens the door to strategic partnerships with specialist operators and investment funds. The two companies will move and store product between OCP’s production sites, processing plants, and the industrial and port platform at Safi.

OCP is courting outside capital as sulfur costs bite

OCP is in talks with local and foreign investors over an equity injection into Mzinda, its new fertilizer hub. Surging sulfur prices forced OCP to slow the hub’s development, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. OCP posted a first-half loss and may suspend dividends this year. The state owns almost 95% of the company, but OCP won’t ask it for equity, according to the same person.

The new companies will serve OCP’s biggest expansion. They will support the Mzinda-Meskala (SP2M) program, which aims to add 9 mn tons of fertilizer capacity by 2028, with 4.5 mn tons originally targeted to come online this year. Mzinda is now slated to start production next year. The subsidiaries will link their mining and processing sites to the industrial and port facilities at Safi.

Investors will want contracted cargo before they buy in

Splitting transport from storage makes each easier to finance, Wolfgang Lehmacher, former head of supply chain and transport industries at the World Economic Forum, tells EnterpriseAM. It gives each activity clearer costs. Transport earns revenue from cargo volumes, while storage is a buffer between incoming raw materials, production, and exports. The split also raises questions about who is responsible when shipments are delayed, he adds.

Investors will look at OCP’s commitments before the cargo itself. “Investors will price OCP’s promise to pay, not phosphate,” Lehmacher says. He points to the Adnoc and Aramco pipeline agreements as the template: minority stakes, long-term tariffs backed by minimum volumes, and operations kept by the parent. Those deals bought assets already in service, while early capital in OCP’s companies would carry completion and ramp-up risk, he notes. “Contracted cargo is the core. Third-party services are the upside that no investment committee will yet underwrite.”

OCP wants to stop chartering ships on the spot market

OCP is looking at long-term shipping contracts that could save it up to MAD 2 bn (USD 203 mn) a year, Bloomberg reports. The company worked with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to work out its shipping requirements.

IN CONTEXT- Sulfur is the pressure point. OCP imports around 3.7 mn tons of sulfur annually from Gulf suppliers. When the Hormuz disruption hit supply, OCP cut production by about 30% in May and June by bringing forward maintenance. Morocco’s phosphate and derivative exports fell about 6% y-o-y to MAD 61 bn (USD 6.2 bn) in the first eight months of the year. OCP has since boosted output of TSP, a fertilizer that needs less sulfur. It is also looking to source sulfur from Spain, Canada, Kazakhstan, and the US Gulf Coast. It plans to extract 1 mn tons of sulfur from local pyrites in 2027, with potential for up to 4 mn tons by 2030, Bloomberg adds.

OCP is also adding sulfur storage. Sogea Maroc and heavy-lifting specialist Somalev have completed two sulfur storage halls under SP2M, adding 100k tons of capacity at Mzinda and 20k tons at Safi, Industrie du Maroc reports. More storage helps only if someone finances the sulfur inside it, Lehmacher says. Making spare capacity useful also requires shared inventory data, clear rules on which operations get priority, and agreed responsibility for decisions during shortages. Without those, OCP could end up paying for logistics capacity with too little cargo moving through it, he adds.

REMEMBER- OCP has been building logistics partnerships for a while. It signed an MoU with Maersk in April 2025 covering ocean and inland transport, storage, and distribution in Morocco and abroad.