Algeciras Port Overwhelmed as Moroccan Traveler Numbers Surge 50%

The port of Algeciras (Cadiz) is "overwhelmed" by the flow of MREs and the deployed Civil Guards are clearly insufficient. According to Miguel Ángel Moral, the provincial secretary of JUCIL, the Civil Guards union, the port currently has about 130 agents who are divided into teams to control some 27,000 travelers and 6,350 vehicles per day.

"Only five additional Civil Guards" were sent on Monday to reinforce the staff at the port of Algeciras, whose flow has increased by 50% compared to 2019, Ok Diario reports. The union had warned that this Operation Marhaba, which comes after two years of cancellation, would see significant MRE traffic, and that a reinforcement of the staff with "at least 30 agents" was necessary and urgent to ensure the documentary, health and luggage control of the MREs.

"Many Civil Guards who are reinforcing these days the colleagues stationed at the port of Algeciras come from other services and areas that they are abandoning to meet the security needs of Operation Marhaba, which also affects the security of these services and areas," explains Miguel Ángel Moral. And he adds: "In order to guarantee the proper efficiency of the services, there should be at least four agents per group in the waiting area, whereas currently there are only two agents," denounces the union.