HOLIDAY EXODUS AS NORTH AFRICANS HEAD HOME

News



2.7 million people of Magreb origin are expected to cross the Algeciras Bay

Over a quarter of a million people have moved through Almeria Port in the last couple of weeks heading home to North Africa for their summer holidays as part of ‘La Operación Paso del Estrecho’.

The operation is carried out every year as an anticipated 2.7 million people of Magreb origin are expected to cross the Algeciras Bay. Most of them will travel in some 700,000 vehicles, the great majority of them being well over-loaded.

According to data provided by the Dirección General de Protección Civil y Emergencias, following the two busiest weekends of the year, a total of 1,050,574 people and 281,217 vehicles have left Spain on ferries operating from the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa (Cadiz) and Almeria, Malaga and Alicante.
Algeciras port has been the busiest with 592,684 passengers and 185,034 vehicles recorded since the beginning of the operation, followed by Almeria, Tarifa, Malaga and Alicante, which now stands at 4864.

The port of Almeria has already transitted 254,826 people and 58,173 vehicles, while through Tarifa, there have been 115,328 passengers and 21,404 vehicles transferred to North Africa.
Approximately 2,000 people are employed in the ports including health workers, Arab and French interpreters, social workers, Red Cross volunteers, Protección Civil and other security services.