Operation Marhaba- Crossing the Strait: the first "departure operation" gets underway

With the arrival of the month of July, Operation Marhaba- Crossing the Strait 2024 (OPE) faces the first "operation exit" of the summer. Over the next few days, a large number of Moroccans Resident Abroad (MRE) who live in Europe and are looking to spend their summer holidays in their home country are expected to cross the Strait of Gibraltar. 

In view of this first "operation departure", the GNV company has resumed ferry traffic on the line connecting Almeria with Nador (Morocco) and set it as a seasonal route for the rest of the OPE. The importance of this news lies in the large number of passengers crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from the coastal city of Almeria. 

On the other hand, for the security forces, it is a crucial week for the correct functioning of the devices which, so far, have had no incidents. On a national level, next Monday also marks the start of Operation Exit within the Spanish borders, where more than 6 million cars are expected to travel on the roads, which may complicate the tasks of the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) and Civil Protection. 

Traffic forecasts more than 94 million long-distance road journeys in July and August.

According to Pere Navarro, director of the DGT, more than 27,000 people will be working directly or indirectly in the operation, for which two rest areas and five signposted and manned information points have been set up. 

In addition, the Border Information System is in operation, consisting of more than 2,400 panels with various contents along the entire route of the OPE on the peninsula in corridors, providing service information to tourists, and more than 2,000 cameras allow the situation to be seen and monitored in terms of the progress and speed of arrival of vehicles and resources at the port. 

So far, more than 180,347 people and 48,581 vehicles have arrived in Moroccan territory, 26.7% and 20.9% less than at the same time last year. This is due to the fact that last year the 1st of July was a Saturday, which meant that the massive movement of passengers was brought forward by two days. 

Even so, Algeciras and Tangier continue to be the cities with the highest passenger traffic, accounting for 76% of the total. They are followed by Almeria with 16% of the total. Meanwhile, the accumulated number of incidents reached 500, 31% less than the previous year, partly thanks to the increase in security personnel.