Ferry to Morocco

[Robbo]

Is anything happening on the mooted ferry link with Morocco?

[Johnrgby]

I was in a bar a month or two back, and it came up in conversation, then somebody I cannot remember whether he was part of the conversation or not, produced an Ipad, and gave chapter and verse on it.

Run by Aramas Two sailings a week, I think he said Tuesdays and Fridays, fares are to be circa 60€ each way and I am convinced he said the start date was 1112/18, but if that was true it has gone on totally under the radar.

[Spitfire58]

Is anything happening on the mooted ferry link with Morocco?

I hope not !!

[Sam]

Today @ Onda Fuerteventura

The Moroccan port of Tarfaya, 63 nautical miles (101 kilometres) from Puerto del Rosario, in Fuerteventura, is the biggest obstacle that the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, detects for the rapid development of commercial and human relations between the Archipelago and Morocco. The regional chief executive yesterday moved his interest to accelerate the inauguration of the port to the Moroccan prime minister, Saad-Eddine El Othmani, who promised that he would give immediate instructions to his minister of transport to deal with this issue, although he did not ensure any specific deadline.

The reforms to condition the Tarfaya port area - to avoid accidents such as the Assalama ferry, which caused the closure of the line in March 2008 after four months in operation - have already been completed, but the port has not yet been inaugurated. Clavijo, in his last day of meetings during his first official trip to the alauí kingdom, showed that this situation prevents two interested Canary shipping companies from opening a regular line that promotes merchandise traffic and bi-directional tourism.

The Minister of Industry, Pedro Ortega, participated today in an interview with Nuria González in 'De Buena Mañana'.


"Concrete agreements"
Clavijo explained to El Othmani the need for relations between the Canary Islands and Morocco to pass from "political declarations of intentions to concrete agreements". The regional executive seeks to activate a bilateral group with the neighboring country to promote commercial and cultural exchanges between both territories. The intention of the Government is to hold a meeting in the Islands during the first half of April with the participation of Canarian and Moroccan businessmen and to continue with "the impulse that this official trip has fostered".

The proposal includes the formation of an alliance made up of the island business fabric, the Hispano-Moroccan chamber and the governments of both countries, while promoting cultural cooperation actions and initiatives in the field of education and training.

Before the meeting with El Othmani, the Canarian president participated in an offering at the Mohamed V Mausoleum and met with Habib Al Malki and Nasser Bourita. In all the meetings, Clavijo expressed concern about the situation of migration and especially the unaccompanied minors who arrive in the Archipelago, and stressed that the "best environment for these children is the family". The head of the regional government also moved the opportunity to recover a program of European cooperation of the Canary Islands-Morocco neighbourhood that contributes financially to strengthen cooperation.

The Moroccan institutions agreed on the idea of recovering this program for the period 2021-2027 and committed to work together with the support of the Spanish Embassy in Morocco.

Clavijo was accompanied during the official trip to Morocco, which started on Monday and ended yesterday, by the counselors of Economy, Industry, Commerce and Knowledge and Tourism, Culture and Sports, Pedro Ortega and Isaac Castellano; the Deputy Advisers for External Action and Education, Luis Padilla and David Pérez-Dionis; the general director of Relations with Africa and and CEO of Proexca, Pablo Martín Carbajal, as well as a representative of the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands (ITC).

The Minister of Economy also held a meeting yesterday with officials of the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mines and Sustainable Development, in which he presented a battery of initiatives in which the Government of the Canary Islands is working to reinforce mutual knowledge and open new opportunities for collaboration economic and business.

Castellano, on the other hand, met with representatives of the Ministry of Culture of Morocco to agree on the creation of a complete cultural agenda that unites both territories. The objective, as explained by the counselor, is "to consolidate the union between two peoples and promote cultural exchanges between Canarian and Moroccan artists."

[Emmi Smith]

"Before the meeting with El Othmani, the Canarian president participated in an offering at the Mohamed V Mausoleum and met with Habib Al Malki and Nasser Bourita. In all the meetings, Clavijo expressed concern about the situation of migration and especially the unaccompanied minors who arrive in the Archipelago, and stressed that the "best environment for these children is the family". The head of the regional government also moved the opportunity to recover a program of European cooperation of the Canary Islands-Morocco neighbourhood that contributes financially to strengthen cooperation."

Interestingly, I have a friend who is a high ranking officer in the Guardia Civil, he too is not happy at the new ferry proposal.

[Johnrgby]

"Before the meeting with El Othmani, the Canarian president participated in an offering at the Mohamed V Mausoleum and met with Habib Al Malki and Nasser Bourita. In all the meetings, Clavijo expressed concern about the situation of migration and especially the unaccompanied minors who arrive in the Archipelago, and stressed that the "best environment for these children is the family". The head of the regional government also moved the opportunity to recover a program of European cooperation of the Canary Islands-Morocco neighbourhood that contributes financially to strengthen cooperation."

Interestingly, I have a friend who is a high ranking officer in the Guardia Civil, he too is not happy at the new ferry proposal.

To be honest Emmi, it does not take a lot of thinking about to realise why he wouldn't be.

[Emmi Smith]

True, but there are  too many people in high places pushing for it. Guess it might have something to do with brown envelopes.

[Johnrgby]

True, but there are  too many people in high places pushing for it. Guess it might have something to do with brown envelopes.

Good God, now whatever makes you think that

[Emmi Smith]

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Noticias:

Newport and Gesport resume the route from Fuerteventura to Tarfaya.

The businessmen José Antonio Newport and Francisco Naranjo travel to Tarfaya with Proexca and the Chamber of Fuerteventura to present the passenger and freight transport project



The two companies, led by their respective owners, José Antonio Newport and Francisco Naranjo, recently traveled to the Moroccan town (formerly Cabo Juby), to present to the Ministry of Transport and Logistics the project to transfer goods and passengers between the capital of Majorera and Tarfaya.



The Alawite Government gave its approval to the recovery of the line, which has been stalled for more than 10 years due to disparity of institutional criteria between the governments of Spain and Morocco.



The business forecast, which has the support of the Cabildo of the island and the regional government, is to have the administrative guarantees in the second half of 2023 and start the first transfers at the end of the year or the beginning of 2024.



Tarfaya is less than 100 kilometers from Puerto del Rosario. In the last decade it became the panacea of commercial exchanges between the Islands and Morocco, above all, for its proximity (50 minutes by road) to El Aaiún, the administrative pole of Western Sahara with a population of 300,000 people.



Tarfaya, scene in the last century of one of the masterpieces of European literature (The Little Prince), operated as a stop for commercial aviation between Europe and Atlantic Africa.



It also remained a former Spanish colony until it obtained its transfer to Moroccan sovereignty. The Canarian Government came to invest up to 2 million euros in the construction of one of the shelter docks, during the mandate of Adán Martín (CC). Rabat, for its part, has allocated more than 40 million euros to the completion of the dikes and breakwaters, with an endowment of commercial and industrial land of 10,000 square meters.



The grounding of a ferry ship from Armas because of the Moroccan authorities when dredging the sand bottoms, ruined the business expectations of the two shores.



For four years, the Cabildo de Fuerteventura, and the participation of the public company Proexca, have resized the project with the attraction of influential companies, such as Newport (one of the pioneers in Tarfaya) and Gesport, one of the container terminals present in the three state-owned ports of Las Palmas.



The visit to Tarfaya was also attended by the delegate of Proexca in Morocco, Elvira Butler, and the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Fuerteventura, Juan Jesús Marichal.