Seabed Mapping Advances for Groundbreaking Morocco-Spain Tunnel

SNED is seeking an international service provider for the acquisition and maintenance of three deep-sea seismometers, known by the English acronym OBS (Ocean Bottom Seismometer), for a provisional budget of 3.9 million dirhams, reports Médias24. The mission of these high-tech portable equipment will be to ensure seismotectonic monitoring on the southern shore of the strait.

To recall, similar operations were carried out by four rented seismometers on the other side of the Mediterranean in November 2024. The Spanish Company for Studies on Fixed Communication through the Strait of Gibraltar (SECEGSA) had signed a contract with TEKPAM Ingeniería, the company selected to provide the four seismometers to be used for the study of the seabed of the strait.

38.5 kilometers long, including 27.7 kilometers underwater, the tunnel under the strait is expected to connect Punta Paloma, near Tarifa, to Tangier in Morocco. This rail link under the strait, which will connect Spain and Morocco, and Africa and Europe by extension, will help reduce transportation and logistics costs and promote trade between the two continents. It will also facilitate the movement of people and strengthen the ties between the African and European peoples. This large-scale project represents a major geostrategic turning point.