About 4,000 travelers and 922 vehicles boarded the first boats authorized to transport passengers with vehicles from the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa to Tanger Med on Monday.
Maritime passenger traffic with vehicles from Algeciras, Tarifa and Almería to Moroccan ports resumed on Tuesday, a week after the reopening of maritime borders between the two countries.
After two years of suspension for health and diplomatic crisis reasons, the maritime links between Spain and Morocco resumed on Tuesday, to the great satisfaction of Moroccans living abroad (MRE) , especially in Europe.
Passengers with vehicles will be able to board, starting this Monday, for Tangier from the port of Algeciras. The maritime link between Algeciras and Tangier has resumed on Tuesday last for passengers without vehicles, after two years of suspension.
At least 200 million euros have been lost by the port of Algeciras during the two years of inactivity with the ports of Tangier, the port authorities of the city have acknowledged.
The ports of Algeciras and Tarifa, which concentrate more than 70% of maritime traffic with Moroccan ports, will reap an estimated profit of 500 million euros from this year’s Marhaba Operation.
Even before the announcement of the resumption of maritime passenger traffic with Morocco from Algeciras, the JUPOL police union denounced the lack of personnel to effectively cope with a large influx of Moroccans, at this particular time of the end of Ramadan and the Easter holidays.
Suspended for two years, maritime links between Spain and Morocco resume this Tuesday, with ferries operating the Algeciras-Tangier line. However, Nador and Alhoceima seem to have been forgotten.
After the announcement of the reopening of the maritime borders with Morocco and the "immediate and gradual" return of the suspended maritime passenger traffic since March 2020, the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA) is asking that actions follow words.
The Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA) plans to meet with shipping companies, representatives of the Moroccan merchant navy and port authorities on Monday to agree on the exact date for the resumption of maritime links with Morocco.
The date of the resumption of maritime links between Spain and Morocco will be known today, at the end of a meeting organized at the port of Algeciras with shipping companies and companies that provide port services as part of passenger traffic.
The president of the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA), Gerardo Landaluce, held a meeting with the various port stakeholders to finalize the preparation of the Marhaba Operation.