The ferries between Spain and Morocco return after two years of closure

At a viewpoint in the upper part of the city, several men look at the horizon and wait for the moment when the ferry will be seen. “Welcome,” says one of them. In the port, dozens of journalists await the moment that Firdaous gets off the ship. She has been the first passenger to touch land. “Very excited and eager to spend Holy Week here”, explains this young woman who lives in Spain, but who has part of her family in Morocco, “we bought the tickets this morning, we missed him so much”, he recounts.

“Thank God they have already opened,” explains Samira excitedly a few minutes after arriving in Tangier. It is the first time that she crosses by boat after two years without setting foot in Morocco. Her plan is to stay in the city this week and return “before the children start school,” she explains.

On this first route between Tarifa and Tangier About fifty people have traveled, but the shipping companies hope that little by little the passengers will increase. All have bought the ticket less than 24 hours in advance, since it was not until Monday afternoon that the maritime companies announced that they were resuming the route.

This Tuesday the first two ferries that circulate between Algeciras and the port of Tangier Med, in addition to the Almería-Nador connection. For now, only passenger travel is allowed and from Monday, April 18, it will also be possible to cross with a vehicle on board.

“It is a way to gradually return to normality. We are very happy with the return of passengers between Tangier and Tarifa after two years of epidemic”, he explains. Mohamed Ouanaya, general director of the Port of Tangier. “In our port the main activity is the connection with Tarifa”, he relates. Another important activity for the sector is the cruise ship arrival, who hope that soon they will also stop in the city again. This week the Moroccan ports have also reopened with France and Italy and are already preparing for Operation Crossing the Strait with Spain after two years suspended.

At the exit of the port, a dozen taxis wait for the first passengers, also the tourist bus awaits. The Tangier tourism sector has been one of the most affected by the closure, since a considerable part of the visitors arrive by boat. “We always work a lot with people who come from Tarifa,” says one of the taxi drivers. Now the whole town waits for everything to be like before the pandemic, “In summer everything will be normal,” confides a worker at a downtown hotel in the city.

This reopening was announced after the visit that Pedro Sánchez made to Rabat last Thursday. The President of the Spanish Government met with the monarch Mohamed VI to give diplomatic crisis closed that a year ago that the two countries maintained. During the meeting they also agreed to reopen the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, although for now the date has not been announced.

This reunion between Spain and Morocco came after Moncloa’s change of position on the Occidental Sahara. Three weeks ago, Sánchez sent a letter to Mohamed VI in which he stated that the Moroccan proposal for autonomy for this territory it is “as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for the resolution of the dispute”, a movement that opened the door to reconciliation and the normalization of the relationship between the two countries, also of movement at the borders.