Spain and Morocco make positive assessment of 'Operation Crossing the Strait 2014', with a 9% increase in number of passengers

During the meeting, the two delegations made a positive assessment of its development and highlighted the good results of the new measures implemented. They pointed out that the Operation concluded successfully and without serious incidents worthy of mention, thanks to the close collaboration between the Moroccan and Spanish authorities.

Delegations

The Spanish delegation that travelled to Morocco headed up by the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, was made up of the Director-General for Civil Protection and Emergencies, Juan Díaz Cruz, together with the Sub-delegate of the Government in Cadiz, Javier de Torre, and public officials from the ministerial departments and other bodies affected: the State Secretariat for Security, the Directorate-General of Traffic, the Directorate-General for the Merchant Navy, the public body State Ports and the Port Authorities of the Bays of Algeciras and Ceuta.

The Moroccan delegation was headed up by the Governor and Director of Migration and Border Surveillance of the Kingdom of Morocco and comprised of senior officials from the Moroccan public authorities and the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity.

Positive balance

'Operation Crossing the Strait' took place with normality, without serious incident and met the forecasts made by those in charge of the operation in terms of the increasing trend in the number of passengers on last year.

The new measures implemented this year were positively assessed, firstly in terms of the training and cooperation workshops aimed at port executives and staff, and secondly in the incorporation of a shared and exclusive communication system for the OPE (SIRDEE) for more effective coordination, and the inclusion of special vessels in the Fleet Plan for cargo transportation (RORO) which allowed the embarkation of passenger vehicles to be speeded up.

Similarly, those measures to strengthen the Operation on the days of greatest movement were considered useful at the emergency area established in Los Barrios to avoid traffic jams affecting vehicles entering the city of Algeciras, and at the pre-embarkation area in Tarifa, which served to regulate the movement of vehicles arriving at the port.

Main figures of the Operation

Including both the outbound and inbound phases, a total of 2,415,395 passengers and 562,088 vehicles were transported, representing increases of 9.8% and 2.5% respectively.

In the outbound phase, a total of 1,174,147 passengers and 283,109 vehicles embarked, representing increases of 9.2% and 0.3% on the figures for the same period of 2013 respectively.

In the inbound phase, a total of 1,241,248 passengers and 278,979 vehicles embarked, representing increases of 10.4% and 4.8% on the figures for the same period of 2013 respectively.

The busiest outbound day was Sunday 3 August, with 50,300 passengers, while the busiest return day was 30 August, with 53,927 passengers.

The ports in the Bay of Algeciras accounted for almost 75% of total vehicle movements: 699,810 passengers and 190,143 vehicles departed from Algeciras and 186,045 passengers and 31,569 vehicles from Tarifa.

In turn, the port of Motril experienced a significant increase in terms of the number of embarkations on previous years: 121,009 passengers and 28,374 vehicles. The rest of the ports involved posted similar figures to previous years.

Influence of Ramadan on movements

Ramadan influenced the planning of movements by citizens from the Maghreb. Since this celebration is 11 days earlier each year, slowly moving towards spring, it no longer affects the planning of trips to cross the Strait of Gibraltar.

Next year, it will commence in mid-June and end a month later. This will be decisive in affecting the busy period of departures in the last week of July and the first week of August.

Numerous bodies and institutions involved

The Ministries of Home Affairs; Development; Health, Social Services and Equality; the Treasury and Public Administration Services; Foreign Affairs and Cooperation; Presidency of the Government; and Defence, together with the Government Delegations in Andalusia, Valencia, Ceuta and Melilla and the Sub-delegations in Cadiz, Almeria, Alicante, Malaga and Granada all participated in the Operation, with additional involvement from the Regional Governments of Andalusia and the Region of Valencia, and the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla.