Morocco’s Transport Minister Defends High Ferry Prices Amid Global Inflation

The opposition denounced the "fanciful" prices of boat tickets between Spain and Morocco during the oral question session in the House of Representatives, reports Hespress. For the parliamentary group of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), these prices are very high compared to those practiced in other countries. A car trip from Ceuta to Algeciras with four passengers costs 1,900 dirhams, compared to 5,700 dirhams for a car trip from Tangier to Algeciras, it details.

The opposition denounces the "illegal agreements" between ferry companies and calls on the supervisory ministry to "restrict infringements of fair competition and prevent monopolization and greed". For its part, the parliamentary group of the Party of Justice and Development (PJD) finds it "inconceivable that a family of four people pays 4 million cents (40,000 DH) for travel tickets to visit Morocco", calling for a subsidy of boat prices and stressing that the transfers of funds from Moroccans residing abroad (MREs) have reached a record level of around 100 billion dirhams.

The Ministry of Transport and Logistics "pays particular attention to the passage process by providing the right conditions for its success, in particular by providing an adequate maritime fleet, establishing a travel program and strengthening the capacity of the offer," reacted Mohammed Abdeljalil, explaining that ticket prices worldwide "have seen an increase due to inflation." The minister assures that his department has not failed to "raise awareness among maritime companies to reduce ticket prices."

"Some (companies) have responded by offering preferential discounts of up to 20%, or about 1,000 dirhams per family, prices equivalent to those of the previous year," said Mohammed Abdeljalil, specifying that the price of the Tangier Med-Algeciras route is currently 5,100 dirhams round trip, compared to 6,300 dirhams at the beginning of June, and that a trip between Ceuta and Algeciras costs 4,300 dirhams. The minister also ruled out the idea of subsidizing travel ticket prices for MREs, as during the Covid-19 health crisis, which was an exceptional period.