Spain and Morocco are increasingly closer in all areas. One of them is maritime connections, and Baleària is making a decisive contribution to this. The Spanish shipping company has increased its traffic with the North African country by 30% and is helping to improve even further the new export and import opportunities between the two neighbouring countries on both sides of the Mediterranean.
Adolfo Utor's company transported 570,000 linear metres of cargo on the connecting lines with Morocco after the opening of the new route between Motril and Tangier in November 2022. This line allows the transport of passengers with a volume of up to 1,100 people capacity for each journey completed by the ship "Volcán de Tauce".
This new connection was transformed into a new ideal crossing for the entry and exit of goods between the two nations. It should also be noted that the port of Motril, in Granada, has increased the weight of exports in its turnover to 42%. The port of Motril also has other lines that reach the Moroccan enclaves of Nador and Al Hoceima.
La compañía española ?? @Balearia ya opera la línea Motril-Tánger Med para el transporte de pasajeros entre España y Marruecos??. pic.twitter.com/c1ztG3sxfr
— ICEX RABAT (@ICEXRabat) December 19, 2022
In the first quarter of 2023, Balearia transported a total of 570,000 linear metres of cargo (38,000 units) on the lines connecting with Morocco, 30% more than in the same quarter of the previous year, providing regular service on the Almeria-Nador, Algeciras-Tangier and the Motril-Tangier line which began operating at the end of November 2022.
The president of the Port Authority of Motril, José García Fuentes, already praised the reestablishment of this line at the end of the year. This is Baleària's second route in this Andalusian port and the company's Cargo Director, Maximiliano Bermejo, explained that the route would serve to extend and improve the economic and commercial conditions of the region, and that, as the main objective, the aim was to extend the transport offer between the Strait and the Alboran Sea. According to the president of the company Baleària, Adolfo Utor, the company was able to "reopen its office in Granada with the appropriate personnel to attend to the needs of the clients", all of this "to offer the best advice and provide effective solutions for maritime transport".
This line between Motril and Tangier is remarkable for the two enclaves involved. Motril is an important commercial port with an important geographical location for the connection with North Africa, it is in fact a port of general state interest. Whereas the port of Tangier Med is one of the giants of the region and has connections with up to 186 ports worldwide with a handling volume of up to nine million containers and seven million passengers.
The connection between the ports of Motril and Tangier offers a significant volume of transit of goods and people with a daily ferry rotation. And here Morocco plays an important role because it is a major exporter of various products such as several related to the textile sector, the fruit and vegetable sector and the automotive sector. With all the products that Morocco has to offer, this new connection between the port of Motril and the port of Tangier Med means a reinforcement of goods traffic and of the export-import relationship, of vital importance for Spanish-Moroccan commercial development.
Thus, the core business of the company chaired by Adolfo Utor with Morocco is centred in Tangier and is aimed at importing products for the Iberian peninsula. According to the shipping company, the main products they are transporting are "textiles, automobiles and food (fresh vegetables)".
In the vicinity of the port of Tangiers, important Spanish industries have been deployed in the heat of the development of these sectors, with the presence of important firms such as Inditex, in the textile sector, or Stellantis and Renault, in the automotive sector.
From Baleària it has been pointed out that Motril is consolidated as a solid alternative to the route between Algeciras and Tangier, due to the agility linked to this point and the shorter distance of road connection with the north of Spain and the rest of Europe.
