Marhaba 2024: 2.8 Mln Passengers Cross Moroccan Ports (Ministry)

Rabat - Some 2.8 million passengers, including 2 million Moroccan expatriates, and 662,000 cars crossed Moroccan ports in both directions between June 5 and September 5, as part of the 'Marhaba 2024' operation. In a press release issued on Monday, the Ministry of Transport and Logistics said that this represents an increase of 5.5% for passengers, 17% for expatriates and 9.5% for vehicles from the same period last year. Addressing the maritime transport offer of the Marhaba operation, the Ministry has mobilized 29 ships this year, providing 535 weekly trips, with a weekly transport capacity estimated at 500,000 passengers and 130,000 cars, the press release points out. The same source notes that the Ministry services carried out a technical inspection of all ships at the start of the operation to ensure compliance with international safety standards, adding that it also ensured the quality of services offered onboard the ships mobilized as part of the 'Marhaba 2024' operation. The distribution of traffic by port shows a strong concentration in the port of Tanger-Med with a total of 1.62 million passengers and 427,000 cars in transit (57% of overall traffic), followed by the port of Tanger-Ville (23%), Nador (19%) and Al Hoceima (1%). Peaks in inbound traffic to the Kingdom were recorded on August 3-4, with some 80,000 passengers and 20,000 cars. As for the exit movement, the last ten days of August were very busy, with over 460,000 passengers and 103,000 cars crossing Morocco to the other side of the Mediterranean. According to the Ministry, the introduction of prior booking with fixed dates and times played a key role in smoothing traffic flows, namely on the bustling 'Tanger Med - Algeciras' and 'Tanger Ville - Tarifa' shipping lines. Source: Agence Marocaine De Presse