Record 11,000 Vehicles Cross to Spain in Marhaba Operation Weekend Surge

On Friday, 2,276 vehicles were recorded in Algeciras and Tarifa, the two ports managed by the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA). On Saturday, Algeciras recorded the arrival of about 400 vehicles per hour, creating traffic jams, explained Manuel Sánchez Alcázar, coordinator of Operation Marhaba at the port of Algeciras, to EFE. There were 3,438 vehicles arriving on Sunday morning at this port and they reached 5,607 for the two ports by the end of the day.

Vehicles continued to arrive during the night of Sunday at a rate of about 300 per hour. An additional lane was activated to speed up the boarding of people from Ceuta.

The ports of Algeciras and Tarifa are the two ports most used by Moroccans residing abroad (MREs) during Operation Marhaba, due to their proximity to the ports of Tangier and Ceuta. Nearly 72% of vehicle and passenger traffic passes through these ports. Other Spanish ports such as Motril (Granada) expect to reach 150,000 passengers this year on their routes to Nador, Al Hoceima and Melilla.