The Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA) hopes that Opération Marhaba dedicated to MREs, suspended for almost two years by Morocco for health reasons, will resume this year.
The maritime link between Morocco and Spain is tentatively resuming with the scheduled stop in Alicante on March 1st by the French shipping company La Méridionale, during the connection between the port of Tangier Med and the port of Marseille.
The municipal council of Algeciras, in its session on Friday, called on the central government to intensify negotiations with Morocco for the resumption of maritime links suspended since March 2020 and the organization this year of the Marhaba Operation.
A few weeks after the reopening of Moroccan airspace , the Moroccan maritime borders remain closed. An expert cites the reasons behind the maintenance of this decision.
About a hundred Moroccans demonstrated on Saturday in front of the consulate in Murcia to demand the reopening of maritime borders and that facilities be granted to them for their trips to Morocco, as air tickets have been out of reach since the resumption of flights on February 7.
The president of the State Ports, Álvaro Rodríguez Dapena, assured that Spanish diplomacy is working to find a concerted solution with Morocco for the resumption of maritime links and the organization of the Marhaba Operation this year.
The large Moroccan community in Spain is eagerly awaiting the resumption of maritime links to travel to Morocco next summer.
The MSC Lirica, a cruise ship of the Lirica Class, will soon call at Morocco as part of MSC Cruises’ winter 2022-2023 navigation program.
The Moroccan community in Majorca will be able to fly back to Morocco from February 7, the date announced by the authorities to reopen the air borders. But ticket prices are excessively high. An increase ranging from single to double.
While the players in the port ecosystem were expecting the reopening of maritime borders after February 6, the Moroccan government has decided to maintain their closure, in order to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the kingdom.
The city of Tangier has been hit hard by the suspension of maritime links with Spain due to the health crisis. Since the closure of Moroccan borders in March 2020, tourism activity has come to a standstill.
The French Embassy in Morocco announces that a new ferry connecting Tanger Med to Marseille has been chartered, to allow French citizens, European citizens and permanent residents in France, traveling in a vehicle registered in Europe, to return home. The boat will set sail on January 24.