Operation Marhaba: 759,000 passengers and 188,000 vehicles travel through Spanish ports to Morocco

Operation Marhaba 2026 continues at an increasing pace, with 759,480 passengers and 188,482 vehicles having passed through various Spanish ports since its launch. Between Friday and Sunday alone, more than 91,700 passengers and 20,600 vehicles crossed through the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa, bound for Ceuta, Tangier Med, and Tangier Ville.

The port of Algeciras accounted for the largest share of the traffic, handling more than 70,000 passengers and 16,500 vehicles, in addition to 1,531 trucks. Tarifa, meanwhile, recorded more than 21,500 passengers and 4,100 vehicles on the ferry route linking it to Tangier Ville.

The heavy influx of cars prompted the activation of the pre-boarding route at the «Llano Amarillo» area on Saturday and Sunday, in an effort to regulate vehicle access and ease pressure on internal roads at the port of Algeciras. In Tarifa, vehicles with reservations were directed to the terminal via the fishing port in order to avoid congestion in the city center and facilitate traffic flow during peak hours.

Saturday saw the highest level of activity since the operation began on June 15, with 23,792 passengers and 6,216 vehicles departing from Algeciras for Ceuta and Tangier Med, compared with 7,573 passengers and 1,467 vehicles leaving Tarifa for Tangier Ville.

The day's total stood at 31,365 passengers and 7,683 vehicles, spread across 73 ferry crossings. Demand remained strong on Sunday, when operation teams, according to one interim tally, oversaw the passage of 4,591 vehicles, including 2,382 bound for Tangier Med, 868 for Tangier Ville and 228 for Ceuta. Another 1,113 cars remained in waiting areas at the port of Algeciras pending boarding, while no similar situation was recorded in Tarifa.

During the first month, from June 15 to July 15, the two ports together received 473,470 passengers and 116,951 vehicles, representing more than 73 percent of the total traffic recorded at Spanish ports.

Algeciras alone handled 357,590 passengers and 100,047 vehicles. The route to Tangier Med was the busiest, attracting 250,504 passengers and outpacing the Ceuta route.

As for Tarifa, it recorded 115,880 passengers and 16,904 vehicles on the Tangier Ville route, which posted the highest growth rate among the maritime routes covered by the operation.