New Maritime Route Links Portugal to Morocco for Summer Travelers

The cancellation of the Marhaba Operation by Morocco, excluding the Spanish ports, will ultimately benefit the port of Portimao in Portugal, which will for the first time ensure the return of MREs to Morocco during the summer. The agreements between the two countries are being finalized to allow the maritime link between the Portuguese port and that of Tanger Med, which comes in addition to those with the ports of Sète in France and Genoa in Italy, already selected for the Special Operation for the transit of MREs. In total, 4,000 MREs are expected to transit through the Portuguese port each day.

To read: New Maritime Route to Connect Morocco and Portugal in July

"This will not be a reason for bad neighborliness, the market is open and Spain will also benefit," explains to El Confidencial the political scientist Raul Braga Pires. According to the results of a questionnaire developed by the Luso-Moroccan Chamber of Commerce and Industry to assess the interest of Portuguese individuals and companies in this new maritime connection, "69.8% want this connection because they have business in Morocco; 90.3% are interested in visiting Morocco as a tourist; 97.1% consider this new connection relevant; 80% find it "very interesting" and 48.7% find it of tourist and commercial interest," informs Pires.

To read: New Morocco-Portugal Ferry Route to Launch for Summer Travel Season

For the expert, "this initiative will be a pole of economic development and animation", specifying that Morocco is the main market in Africa for Portugal after the Lusophone countries. However, he warns, the risks related to border security must be mastered, recalling the discovery in October of a route used by Moroccan migrants from El Jadida to land on the beaches of the Algarve. Moreover, the Portuguese border service (SEF) is also undergoing a major restructuring and a large part of its functions have been entrusted to other security services.

"Portugal, geographically, is not a Mediterranean country, but it is geopolitically," Pires also argues, convinced that the connection with Tanger "will give a new space to Lisbon to exert its influence in the international context".