Morocco ranks among the leading fishing nations on the continent: sardines, tuna, mackerel and small pelagics feed the ports of Agadir, Tan-Tan, Laayoune and Dakhla every day, as well as the canneries of Casablanca and Safi. Behind every landing, a considerable metal infrastructure works continuously: fishing vessels and fishing gear, canning lines, cold rooms, ice plants and ship repair workshops. When this equipment reaches the end of its life, it becomes a significant metal resource, provided it is dismantled, sorted and cleared away methodically.
For shipowners, cannery directors and port managers, the issue goes beyond simple clearance. Quays must be freed without interrupting port operations, strict hygiene rules must be respected in food-contact areas, equipment must be depolluted before any cutting, and each metal must be routed to the right stream. This guide explains, in practical terms, how to recover scrap metal from Morocco's fishing and cannery industry, from the decommissioned vessel to the cold room.
Fishing and canning in Morocco: a major metal resource
The Moroccan sector combines coastal and deep-sea fishing, sardine, tuna and mackerel canneries, freezing, fishmeal and fish oil production, and a cold chain linking ports to export markets. Agadir concentrates much of the sardine canning industry, Tan-Tan and Laayoune host major fleets and processing units, Dakhla is developing its fishing and freezing activities, while Casablanca and Safi complete the industrial link. Each of these sites concentrates tonnes of metal: hulls and port structures, processing machines, refrigeration networks and technical buildings.
Around the production lines, other equipment deserves the same attention: quays and pontoons, cranes and gantries, generator sets, compressors, tanks and pipework, trolleys and racks in cold stores, maintenance workshops with their lathes, milling machines and spare-parts stocks. A complete inventory, zone by zone — vessel, quay, plant, cold room — is the starting point of any successful intervention, because it determines phasing, cutting methods and sorting streams.
Decommissioned vessels: hulls, engines and fishing gear
A decommissioned fishing vessel is first of all a steel hull: shell plating, frames, decks and superstructures, plus heavy fishing gear — trawl winches, net drums, fishing gantries, deck cranes — as well as main and auxiliary engines, gearboxes, shaft lines and bronze propellers. Fish holds, pipework and hydraulic equipment complete the picture. Dismantling follows the reverse order of assembly: removable equipment first, then structures, marking each assembly to identify what can be reused and what goes to material recovery.
Some parts deserve examination before any cutting: an engine still in working order, a functional winch, a pump or a generator set can find a second life on another vessel or as spare parts, extending their use and avoiding the manufacture of new equipment. Conversely, a corroded hull, a worn-out engine or unrepairable gear joins material recovery, sorted by family: hull steel, circuit stainless steel, superstructure aluminium, propeller bronze and wiring copper. This approach follows the same principles as industrial machine dismantling, applied here to a port environment where every metre of quay matters.
Canning lines: retorts, seamers and food-grade stainless steel
A sardine, tuna or mackerel canning line chains together fish reception and sorting, heading and gutting, cooking, can filling, seaming, retort sterilisation, labelling and palletising. Every step uses metal: stainless conveyors and tables, cooking tanks, seamers, vertical or rotary retorts, steam boilers, labellers and case packers. Food-grade stainless steel — often grades 304 or 316 — dominates product-contact areas, while frames, casings and structures are ordinary steel.
Sorting must therefore rigorously separate food-grade stainless steel from ordinary steel: mixed together, the two metals lose their identity and the stainless steel joins the ordinary scrap lot. Seamers and retorts, often composite, are treated separately: gaskets, probes, motors and wiring are removed first, then each stream is routed to its own channel. To understand grades and identification tests, our guide on stainless steel recovery in Morocco sets out the right reflexes, and our article on agricultural scrap shows the same hygiene requirements in other food-processing plants.
Cold chain: cold rooms, ice plants and refrigeration circuits
The cold chain is the sector's second great resource: cold rooms and freezing tunnels, port cold stores, flake- or block-ice plants, and chilled-water production units. Cold-room sandwich panels combine steel or aluminium sheets with insulation, while refrigeration units combine compressors, evaporators, condensers and electrical cabinets. Refrigeration circuits themselves contain significant amounts of copper, in pipework, coils and fittings.
Dismantling separates sheets from insulation, which must not contaminate metal batches, then isolates circuit copper, compressor motors and electrical cabinets. Refrigerant fluids are recovered specifically before any circuit is opened, as detailed in the next section. For the same sorting reasons, our article on copper recovery in Morocco explains the value of clean, homogeneous copper lots, and our guide on water and wastewater scrap covers similar pipework and tank dismantling in other Moroccan industries.
Depollution and hygiene: fuels, oils, refrigerants and antifouling paints
No cutting begins before depollution. On a vessel, fuel tanks and fuel circuits are drained, engine and hydraulic oils recovered, bilge water pumped out and batteries removed. On a canning line or refrigeration plant, circuits are emptied, refrigerant fluids recovered by qualified operators, and residues packed in closed, labelled containers. No liquid must remain inside equipment when it is cut or loaded.
Hull antifouling paints require particular care: they must neither be burned nor dry-sanded without protection, as their compounds disperse into the air and onto the quay. Work areas are sheeted, residues collected, and hot cutting governed by a hot-work permit issued in coordination with the harbour master and the port safety service. In canneries, food-contact surfaces are cleaned and disinfected before work, and neighbouring production areas are isolated to prevent cross-contamination.
Dismantling quayside without blocking the port: phasing, traceability and reuse
A fishing port never really stops: landings, auctions and vessel departures follow one another, and quays must stay passable. Phasing is therefore the central tool: advance inventory, marking of the work area, removal order — peripheral equipment first, utilities next, main structure last — and planned windows for work requiring a shared network to stop, such as an electrical supply or a seawater line. Each phase ends with the area restored: floors cleaned, access cleared, guards put back.
Clearance follows the same discipline: removed metals are gathered on storage areas away from landing flows, without blocking auctions or refrigerated truck access, then loaded onto suitable vehicles and securely fastened. Each stream is traceable — metal type, origin, destination — useful for quality audits and for the environmental procedures of shipowners and canneries alike. Whether a single vessel, a canning line or a complete cold room, MOUMETAL intervenes with its own loading and on-site sorting resources, in coordination with port and plant teams.
FAQ — Fishing and cannery industry scrap metal in Morocco
Can a vessel be dismantled quayside without interrupting port activity? Yes, in most cases, provided work is phased, the dismantling area is marked out, quay access is maintained, and shared-network shutdowns are coordinated with the harbour master. Feasibility depends on the vessel's size, its location and landing constraints.
What should be done with fuels, oils and refrigerants before cutting? Circuits are drained, fuels and oils recovered, refrigerant fluids captured by qualified operators, and residues packed in closed, labelled containers. No liquid must remain inside equipment when it is cut.
Why must food-grade stainless steel from canneries be sorted separately? Because food-grade stainless steel has its own remelting stream and a value distinct from ordinary steel. Mixed with steel, it loses its identity and joins the ordinary scrap lot. Sorting at source, during dismantling, preserves the quality of each batch.
Are cold-room sandwich panels recoverable? Yes, provided the metal sheets are separated from the insulation. Steel or aluminium sheets join their respective streams, while insulation is routed to a suitable treatment. It is this separation that makes the batch recoverable.
Can canning equipment still in working order be reused rather than recycled? Yes, when it is still functional: a seamer, a conveyor, a retort or a refrigeration unit in good condition can equip another cannery or serve as spare parts. Dismantling must then stay reversible, with assemblies marked and plans kept.
Entrust your vessels, canning lines and cold rooms to MOUMETAL
MOUMETAL supports shipowners, canneries, fish merchants and port managers with the removal, sorting and recovery of metals from Morocco's fishing and cannery industry, from the decommissioned vessel to the cold room. To organise a site visit, a quayside dismantling or a collection coordinated with your operations, contact MOUMETAL on +212 660 690 806 or by email at contact@moumetal.com.