"Morocco's powerful port workers union seeks to block Maersk's 'military shipment' to Israel", 15 April, 2025

A powerful port workers' union in Morocco has called for a boycott of a Maersk cargo ship allegedly transporting US military equipment to Israel, intensifying a wave of public outrage in the North African kingdom over the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

In a statement released Monday, the Union of Port Workers in Morocco, affiliated with the country's most influential labour body, the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT), urged workers at the Port of Casablanca to refuse to unload or service the Maersk Nexoe, a Danish vessel reportedly scheduled to dock on 18 April.

"Anyone facilitating this ship's passage is, without question, a direct accomplice in the genocidal war against the Palestinian people", the union said in a statement. It also called on authorities to bar the ship from docking at Casablanca or at Tangier Med, Morocco's largest port.

The call marks the most forceful stance yet by an organised labour institution in Morocco since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, and comes amid growing domestic unrest over Rabat's continued normalisation of ties with Tel Aviv.

Religious groups have also vowed to sabotage this ship suspected of carrying or facilitating military cargo shipment to Israel...

The Maersk Nexoe is believed that it will facilitate carrying spare parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel, according to reports by the Irish outlet The Ditch and Declassified UK.

The equipment, originally loaded in Houston aboard the US-flagged Maersk Detroit, is said to be en route to the Nevatim airbase in southern Israel, one of the main hubs for the Israeli Air Force's operations over Gaza.

The Detroit is expected to dock in Tangier on 20 April, before transferring its cargo to the Nexoe, which would then continue to Haifa via the Mediterranean.

Neither Maersk nor Moroccan authorities have confirmed the contents of the cargo...

The Moroccan chapter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has documented the docking of at least six Maersk vessels between November and December 2024.

While only one listed Israel as a final destination, activists suspect the others were involved in weapons transshipment...

Dockworkers in Fos-sur-Mer, France, said they recently delayed the arrival of the same ships, stating they refused to handle vessels linked to the Israeli military. Their protest stopped the ship from docking on Saturday, delaying its journey, according to the BDS movement...

In Morocco, pro-Palestine groups plan to protest at the ports of Casablanca and Tangier on 18 and 20 April, hoping to pressure authorities into blocking the ship's arrival...

Maersk, for its part, has not responded to requests for comment...