FRS Iberia Morocco/DFDS announced the cancellation of the Tarifa-Tangier City maritime line from Monday, May 5, 2025, after 25 years of service. This connection will now be operated by the maritime company Baleària.
After "Le Normandie", which joined La Méridionale’s fleet, "Le Bretagne", from the Brittany Ferries company, is changing horizons. It will make the crossing between Europe and Morocco this summer, departing from Spain.
In the coming months, the shipping company Balearia will put into service an electric ferry that will allow to connect Spain and Morocco in just over 40 minutes.
DFDS-FRS Iberia, holder of the Tarifa-Tanger city line since 2023, has denounced the behavior of Balearia, which has recently announced that it has won the contract to supply two electric ferries to operate this maritime link.
Baleària won the contract on Friday for the construction of two electric ships with a capacity of 800 passengers, worth 135 million euros. These two ferries will serve the Tarifa-Tangier City route.
As part of the Marhaba 2024 Operation , the shipping company Balearia has planned 15 daily crossings to Morocco from the ports of Algeciras, Almería, Motril and Malaga.
For a few days now, Moroccans from Europe have been allowed to embark, with or without vehicles, from the port of Malaga to Melilla as part of the Marhaba Operation.
Baleària has decided to strengthen its activity with Morocco as part of this year’s Marhaba Operation. With its thirteen ships, the shipping company plans to make 200 weekly connections to Ceuta, Melilla, Tanger Med and Nador during the period from June 15 to September 15.
A few weeks before the start of the Strait Crossing Operation or Marhaba, the port of Malaga is bustling to settle the last logistical details in order to effectively cope with the significant influx of Moroccans from Europe who will transit with or without their vehicles to Morocco.
"Rusadir" is the new ferry of the shipping company Balearia that serves the route between the ports of Malaga and Melilla. It has been operating since Monday, April 3.
The maritime transport company Baleària recorded a 30% growth in freight traffic in the first quarter of 2023 on its connection lines with Morocco. It thus transported a total of 570,000 linear meters of goods on the Almería-Nador, Algeciras-Tangier and the Motril-Tangier line, launched in November 2022. The most transported products are textiles, automotive and food (fresh vegetables).
Due to unfavorable weather conditions (gusts of wind and storm), several shipping companies connecting Morocco from Algeciras and Tarifa had to cancel or suspend their routes.