Spain and Morocco Finalize Plans for Marhaba 2023 Summer Migration

For this 34th edition of the Marhaba Operation, the first to be held without health restrictions, everything seems ready to facilitate the transit of Moroccans in Europe to Morocco this summer. Last year, a Covid passport was required for travelers who had to arrive at the port with a closed ticket (purchased in advance) to reduce waiting times before boarding, especially on peak days. This year, the recommendation to arrive with a closed ticket should be maintained, reports ABC.

The Director General of the Spanish Merchant Navy, Benito Núñez, and his Moroccan counterpart, Najibe Elkarkouri, held a meeting this week in Algeciras to begin laying the foundations for the Transit Operation fleet plan, i.e. the number of ships and rotations to be carried out in the outbound and return phases between the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa and those of Tanger Med and Tanger. The President of the State Ports, Álvaro Rodríguez, and the President of the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA), Gerardo Landaluce, also attended this meeting.

As every year, the Marhaba Operation will start on June 15 and end on September 15. Strong influxes are expected at the end of June, which coincides with Eid al-Adha, and the end of July. The decision to organize the Transit Operation this year comes in a context of normalization of relations between the two countries. For the moment, Morocco has not yet spoken on the opportunity to require health measures.

Announced as historic, the Marhaba Operation 2022 did not meet expectations. A massive influx of Moroccans residing abroad was expected after two years of suspension, but the operation finally recorded a 10% drop in passenger and vehicle traffic through the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa, which represent 75% of this transit. In 2019, 3.3 million passengers and more than 700,000 vehicles transited in the outbound and return phases through the Spanish ports, including 2,373,183 passengers and 532,060 vehicles through Algeciras and Tarifa.