The ferry company Balearia scheduled a repatriation ship to help Spanish residents and nationals to return home amid COVID-related flight suspensions.
Morocco's Spanish embassy revealed that the shipping company would operate the ship from Tangier Med Port (northern Morocco) to Algeciras (Spain).
The vessel will depart Morocco at 1:00 p.m. on April 22.
Balearia said the repatriation ferry would be available to “Spanish travelers already resident in Spain, foreigners with a study visa or family reunification, stay visas (ESC, EET, EXT and VET) and all Type D residence visas as well as citizens of the European Union.”
For repatriation, “passengers must be able to prove their destination within Spain.”
The repatriation ferry would be available to foot travelers as well as those with a vehicle “with European registration or registration distinctive yellow Moroccan diplomatic corps, Consular Corps, [or] international aid workers.”
Health measures like mask-wearing are mandatory for the crossing.
Balearia also specified that “passengers traveling without vehicles must be present at the port 2 hours before the departure of the ferry,” while those traveling with a vehicle (trucks) “must be present in the port 5 hours before the departure of the ferry.”
The government of Morocco suspended flights with Spain on March 31, as part of the country’s preventive measures to limit the spread of the virus.
Since then, Spain has made efforts to repatriate its nationals, whether by sea or by air. On April 4, the authorities managed to repatriate ~1,200 Spaniards from the North African country.