The diplomatic crisis that has been going on since April between Morocco and Spain, due to Madrid’s decision to welcome the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali under a false name for a hospitalization, keeping him hidden from his strategic ally, will continue throughout the summer despite a week ago the leader of the Sahrawi separatist group returned to Algiers.
After touching the immigration field, with Rabat’s decision to open the border with the Spanish enclave of Ceuta for 48 hours, thus allowing the arrival of 9,000 migrants, this time Morocco’s retaliation has an economic and affects the maritime sector. In fact, every year 3 million Moroccan migrants residing in Europe return home for the summer holidays in August. To accommodate this exodus of people, who mostly move by sea, the Rabat authorities have for years started the so-called “Operation Marhaba”, suspended only last year due to the pandemic.
The novelty of this year is that there will be no “Operation Marhaba” for the Spanish ports. The shipping companies and Spanish ports will therefore not enjoy the influx of hundreds of thousands of Moroccans returning home for the holidays, with the consequent economic return. The cancellation of this operation for the Spanish ports only “will have a high economic cost for the budgets of the Spanish shipping companies which, during the summer months, worked with the transfer of these people. This year’s damage adds to last year’s losses, when the pandemic also caused the operation to be canceled, ”Spanish newspaper ABC said on June 6.
“Last year Morocco canceled Operation Marhaba due to the complicated health situation caused by the coronavirus crisis. However, this year, while the epidemiological situation is better controlled thanks to vaccines, the Moroccan government has repeated the maneuver without giving further explanations “, indicates the newspaper, adding that this decision” coincides with one of the worst diplomatic crises in recent decades between the two countries, aggravated in recent weeks by the Ghali affair and the migratory avalanche on Ceuta agreed by Rabat ”.
Morocco’s decision to resume travel and restrict passage through the ports of Genoa and Sete caused a sensation in Spanish newspapers and websites. The announcement was commented by the channels and radios of the Iberian country which already speak of considerable losses for hotels, travel agencies, restaurants, rest areas and ports of Algeciras, Almeria, Tarifa and Ceuta.
Until a few days ago it was thought that the operation, aimed at welcoming in an orderly and organized way the return of Moroccans residing in Europe, would also be aborted this year again for health reasons. But the Moroccan newspaper Assabah said that the government of Rabat has actually started preparations to launch the “Marhaba 2021 ″ operation and at first Spanish companies were also involved. In fact, the newspaper continues, the direction of the Merchant Navy, which belongs to the Ministry of Equipment and Transport, had in fact contacted the Spanish shipping companies, asking them to communicate their crossing plan for the summer period. But, the newspaper insists, no decision had been made.
Only later did the Moroccan government exclude all Spanish ports from “Operation Marhaba”, which since 1987 has regulated the flow of seafarers between the North African country and the rest of Europe. In a statement issued by Rabat, the government specified that the return of the Moroccans will be carried out exclusively from the same ports of transit as last year, that is to say with boats from the ports of Sete and Genoa. The Operation usually starts in June and ends in September and in recent editions it has regulated the passage from Europe to Morocco of three million passengers every summer and almost 800,000 vehicles. This year, Moroccans residing abroad who board in Sete or Genoa will have to undergo a PCR anti-Covid test before boarding and, once on board, another test will be carried out.
It is a serious blow for the port of Algeciras, but also for the Spanish transit regions, mainly in the south of the Iberian kingdom. Spanish port authorities appeared to be betting heavily on this operation to revitalize the economy region in the south of the Iberian Peninsula for the summer of 2021. We learn that Rabat officials have been working on two scenarios as part of the implementation of this operation. “The transit operation is one of the largest in the region, if not the world. The figures are instructive. In 2019, 2.5 million passengers and 600,000 vehicles transited from 5 June to 1 September, in both directions, through the four ports affected by the operation, namely Tanger Med, Tanger City, Nador and Al Hoceima.
Morocco therefore dealt a blow to Spain with damage that in economic terms is estimated at 1,150 million euros. According to the Spanish newspaper La Razon, these would be the revenues that the 3 million travelers who pass through Spain every year bring in each year and will be missing this year. According to Macarena Olona, a member of the Spanish parliament, this exclusion will have a disastrous impact on Spanish ports. “In Motril alone, this represents a loss of 20 million euros. It is an activity that has a great economic impact for this city. This exclusion will affect the ports of Algeciras, Tarifa, Malaga, Motril, Almeria, Alicante, Ceuta and Melilia, ”she tweeted.
Only in #Motril it represents a loss of 20,000,000 euros. The activity with the greatest economic impact for the city. It will affect the ports of Algeciras, Tarifa, Malaga, Motril, Almeria, Alicante, Ceuta and Melilla. Also to all the businesses of the Burgos Miranda corridor. Tragic. https://t.co/JU1dWVSnTb
– Macarena Olona (@Macarena_Olona) June 6, 2021
For the second consecutive year there will be no Strait-crossing operations in Spain. On this occasion, it was Morocco that unilaterally announced that it would not accept transfers into its territory from Spanish ports such as those of Algeciras, Tarifa or Almeria. These three terminals collect most of the 3 million Maghrebi emigrants. Morocco had already warned that the decision to allow the Polisario leader, Ghali, to welcome him to Spain would have consequences. For some sectors, such as maritime, the loss is more than important.
The importance of this move from an economic point of view is linked not only to the number of people who move to Morocco every year in such a short period, but also to the fact that Rabat has been focusing on the so-called motorways for at least 10 years. sea not only to boost trade, but also to strengthen links with Europe. This is the general rehearsal that takes place every year to demonstrate Morocco’s development in the infrastructural and port sector, specifically, which starts with Operation Mahraba (Welcome), fielded by King Mohammed IV and managed by the Foundation that leads his name, to guarantee an adequate welcome to immigrants from the old continent who are preparing to return home for the holidays.
The port authorities have spent 16 million euros to build infrastructures that will allow the physical separation of pedestrians and cars arriving and leaving the port. Similar attention was paid to Nador and al Hoceima, which together welcome more than 20 percent of arrivals. Here, too, assistance centers have been set up just like those traditionally set up in the airports of Casablanca, Agadir and Fes, with specialized personnel and volunteers, who speak French, English, Italian and German in addition to Arabic, for a total of 400 operators. located in key points throughout the territory.
