The port of Tangier will be able to resume normal activity. Morocco will reopen, Tuesday, April 12, its maritime links for passengers with Spain, following the normalization of relations between the two countries, indicated Monday evening the ministry of transport.
“The shipping companies will gradually resume their passenger services between the Moroccan ports of Tanger Med and Tanger-Ville and the Spanish ports of Algeciras and Tarifa”, the ministry said in a statement. If the resumption of regular passenger and coach traffic is scheduled for Tuesday, motorists will have to wait until April 18.
Located on the northern coast of Morocco, on the Strait of Gibraltar, just 14 km from the Spanish coast, Tangier is one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean, along with Marseille and Algeciras. 40 km east of the city was built the Tanger Med industrial-port complex, operational since 2007 and whose terminals handled more than 7 million containers in 2021.
Visit of Pedro Sanchez in Rabat
Diplomatically scrambled with Spain, Morocco had so far maintained the ban on maritime passenger traffic with Spain, a mode of transport popular with Moroccans residing in Europe, after the reopening of its maritime borders, closed in due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
But Madrid ended nearly a year of crisis on March 18, after reversing the Western Sahara issue and acknowledging Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed territory. The conflict in Western Sahara – a vast desert territory rich in phosphates and with waters full of fish – has pitted Morocco against the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, for decades. While Rabat advocates a status of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty, the Polisario calls for a self-determination referendum under the aegis of the UN.
The reconciliation between Spain and Morocco was sealed on Thursday with the visit to Rabat of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez. The two neighboring countries have decided to“inaugurate a new stage” of their partnership. “We will proceed with the gradual reopening of border crossings to guarantee an orderly flow of people (…) and the goods will also flow normally”had then promised the Spanish leader.