Hours-Long Border Delays Plague Ceuta-Morocco Crossing Midweek

In addition to weekends when traffic is generally heavy in both directions, the traffic jam at the Tarajal border is also observed during the week. On Thursdays, the border is often crowded with vehicles that are eager to leave Ceuta or enter it from Morocco in order to avoid the weekend traffic jam that already starts on Friday.

On Wednesday, travelers who thought they could quickly reach the autonomous city from Morocco, because it was in the middle of the week and far from the weekend, had to spend "more than two hours" waiting at the border. They deplore that the Moroccan authorities only keep "two lanes" open for the administrative and customs control of travelers.

"This afternoon, there weren’t many cars, but with only two operational lanes, the line stretched to the roundabout and once at the Moroccan border post, the slowness is exasperating, because you have to wait between 10 and 15 minutes to see a car pass," they complain, calling for the opening of more lanes by the Moroccan authorities to facilitate their transit.

Travelers consider it "inconceivable" this way of treating tourists who come to have fun and spend their money in Morocco, "because we are not talking about periods like the Marhaba Operation where the influx of travelers can justify long waiting times". They say they are living hell because of the "lack of will" of the Moroccan authorities.