US Military Delegation Visits Dakhla Port Amid Deeper Washington Engagement in Sahara

Marrakech – A delegation of senior US military officials from the US Embassy in Rabat visited the Atlantic Port in Dakhla, the embassy announced Tuesday on its social media pages. The delegation learned more about the region’s maritime sector and engaged on maritime infrastructure, regional connectivity, economic development, and shared security priorities.

The embassy framed the port as a site of strategic importance and treated the stop as a chance to exchange views with Moroccan officials on the sector’s future.

The visit comes after a US Mission delegation traveled to El Guerguerat in June, the first such trip to the only border crossing between Morocco and Mauritania. There, the delegation met Moroccan counterparts to discuss border security cooperation, counter-narcotics and anti-trafficking efforts, and interagency coordination in the Sahara.

 

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Together, the two trips reflect a stronger, on-the-ground US presence across Morocco’s southern provinces.

The engagement has moved from diplomatic recognition toward concrete physical activity in the region, particularly under Donald Trump’s second administration, which has pushed the political process forward since Washington recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara in December 2020.

The economic side of that engagement advanced in late July. The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) signed an agreement with the Moroccan-based joint venture ORNX to fund a pre-front-end engineering and design study (Pre-FEED) for a large-scale ammonia plant in Laayoune, built around US technology. The grant is worth MAD 57 million ($5.7 million).

ORNX selected a consortium of US companies led by Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), alongside GE Vernova, Electric Hydrogen, and Terabase.

When operational, the plant is expected to produce up to 560,000 tons of ammonia per year and to draw on roughly 900 MW of electrolyzer capacity, integrating power generation, hydrogen production, and ammonia synthesis on a single platform.

Both the ammonia project and the embassy visits point toward the infrastructure taking shape in Dakhla. The Atlantic Port there is 65% complete, with construction due to finish by the end of 2028 and operations planned for 2029.

The project is designed as more than a shipping terminal. It is planned as the maritime outlet for the Sahel, and as a logistics hub linking Morocco to West Africa, in line with the national port strategy, the development model for the southern provinces, and the royal initiative to give Sahel states access to the Atlantic.

The port plan includes a heavy-load quay and the deepening of the commercial basin from 16 to 18 meters. It also features two terminals dedicated to green ammonia, with a combined annual capacity of 6 million tons.

An adjacent industrial zone is intended for green hydrogen, renewable energy, and low-carbon industry, positioning Dakhla to complement Tanger Med and Nador West Med.