This Policy Brief examines how global trade in the Mediterranean Basin is increasingly shaped by regulatory divergence, digital transformation, and uneven climate governance, with a particular focus on the Tanger Med–Algeciras corridor. While both ports have emerged as strategic global hubs, they operate under markedly different regulatory, technological, and environmental frameworks that are beginning to reshape trade routes and competitive dynamics across the Strait of Gibraltar.

The analysis shows that uncoordinated governance and climate policies, notably under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), risk fragmenting a corridor that is economically and logistically interconnected. Rising compliance costs for EU ports, combined with asymmetries in digital integration and sustainability obligations, are influencing carrier routing decisions, creating risks of carbon leakage, distorted competition, and weakened regional resilience. At the same time, treating Tanger Med and Algeciras as rivals rather than complements limits the corridor’s collective potential.

The Brief calls for a shift from fragmented port competition to coordinated corridor governance, positioning the Strait of Gibraltar as a strategic, low-carbon, and digitally integrated gateway for global trade. By aligning digital and climate transitions across borders, it demonstrates how cooperation can strengthen competitiveness while supporting environmental integrity and supply-chain resilience in the Mediterranean.

It recommends:

• Promoting interoperability between Port Community Systems to enable seamless cross-Strait logistics

• Establishing joint cybersecurity frameworks to protect critical digital port infrastructure

• Coordinating decarbonisation strategies to prevent carbon leakage and regulatory distortion

• Investing in shared training and upskilling programmes for the smart-port transition

• Embedding cross-border port cooperation into EU–Morocco and Euro-Mediterranean policy frameworks