The long-awaited return of passenger traffic between Spain and Morocco already has a date. On April 12, 2022, the maritime ferry routes between the ports of Algeciras and Tangier-Med and Tarifa with the city of Tangier will be reestablished with trips exclusively for passengers on both routes (except buses). The two routes will be operational from 09:00.
From Monday, April 18, also at 09:00, traffic will also be open for private vehicles between these four ports, as announced yesterday by the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA) after holding a meeting with the shipping companies. operators of these lines.
The tickets will be closed tickets (with no possibility of changes) and each passenger will be required to have a valid Covid passport or a PCR test that is a maximum of 72 hours old. The implementation will be gradual given that the companies that operate these routes have a good part of their staff in ERTE for tasks such as ticket sales, on-board service and cargo accommodation.
Officials from the Merchant Navy and the General Administration of the State, among other entities involved, also participated in the meeting between the Port and the shipping companies. In turn, the APBA recalled that the route between Algeciras and Ceuta remains fully operational, although the border from Ceuta to Morocco (Tarajal) remains closed, so it is not a route currently available to cross to the neighboring country.
The return of the exploitation of commercial trips between both countries was now only at the expense of specifying the dates of the first expeditions. Something that has been possible after the recent normalization of diplomatic relations between Spain and Morocco, which had its crystallization with the visit to the neighboring country of Pedro Sánchez to meet with King Mohamed VI.
The reestablishment of the routes after more than two years of inoperability will also allow the organization of Operation Crossing the Strait for 2022 (OPE), the first to be held after the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Ministry of the Interior has already begun to prepare the next Operation Crossing the Strait two years after its suspension, following the closure of Morocco’s borders. The operation was suspended in 2020 as a result of the pandemic and was not resumed in 2021, when Morocco kept its borders with Spain closed. However, it did resume the aforementioned operation from other European countries, such as Italy, Portugal or France.
As reported by the Ministry of the Interior, the undersecretary of this department, Isabel Goicoechea, chaired together with the general director of Civil Protection and Emergencies, Leonardo Marcos, the first meeting of the State Coordination and Management Committee of Operation Paso del Estrecho 2022.