After being suspended for more than two years, Morocco announces the resumption of maritime transport with Spain

The Moroccan Ministry of Transport announced on Monday that maritime passenger traffic between Morocco and Spain will resume as of Tuesday, and this comes after the return of relations between the two neighbors and the closure of a diplomatic crisis.

From Tuesday, maritime passenger traffic between Morocco and Spain will resume, according to what the Moroccan Ministry of Transport announced, and this comes after the return of relations between the two neighbors and the turning of the page of a diplomatic crisis that lasted about a year.

And on Monday, the Moroccan Ministry of Transport and Logistics said in a statement: “Within the framework of reopening the sea lines between Morocco and Spain, passenger services will resume between the ports of Tangiers Med and Tangiers Medina and the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa in Spain, starting tomorrow, Tuesday.”

The decision concerns, in the first stage, travelers on foot, provided that it includes travelers in cars, starting from April 18, according to what the same source explained.

Morocco had suspended passenger traffic across the Mediterranean with its northern neighbor since the emergence of the Corona pandemic in early 2020, without resuming it when it reopened its borders to flights for travelers, due to a diplomatic crisis with Madrid that erupted in the spring of last year.

In the context of this crisis, Rabat excluded Spanish ports from the transit process of Moroccan migrants residing in Europe last summer, a process that usually witnesses intense movement. The movement of Moroccan tourists to Spain by sea also remained suspended.

However, the two countries announced on Friday the opening of a new phase in their relations on the basis of a road map that includes several points, the most prominent of which is "the reconnection of maritime travelers between the two countries", during a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Rabat to confirm reconciliation between the two kingdoms.

The move came after Madrid changed its position on the Sahara conflict in favor of Rabat in mid-March, by endorsing the autonomy project proposed by Morocco to resolve this conflict.

The crisis erupted due to Spain hosting the leader of the Polisario Front, which calls for the independence of the Sahara, Ibrahim Ghali, for treatment, after he was infected with the Corona virus in April 2020.