Summer traffic on the ferry to Morocco: travelling during Marhaba

Every summer millions of Moroccans living in Europe travel to Morocco, most of them by car and ferry. Morocco handles that with Marhaba, the reception operation of the Fondation Mohammed V pour la Solidarité: reception areas, medical help and a helpline in the ports and at the airports, in 2026 from 10 June to 15 September. Spain does the same on its side with the Operación Paso del Estrecho (OPE), coordinated since 1986 by the interior ministry: extra police, traffic management and waiting zones at the ports, in 2026 from 15 June to 15 September. During Marhaba 2025 the Fondation Mohammed V welcomed around 4.06 million people, 53 percent of them by sea; through the Moroccan ports went more than 3.2 million passengers and around 739,000 vehicles, according to the transport ministry.

Almería is one of the seven Spanish ports in the operation and, with Motril, one of the two with a direct line to Nador. That makes the port one of the busiest places on the Spanish coast in July and August: on peak days hundreds of cars wait on the quay.

The outbound peak runs from late June to mid-July, with the school holidays of the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany, and above all on the first weekends of July. The return peaks in the last two weeks of August, when everyone has to be back for school and work at the same time. Weekends are busier than weekdays.

If you are flexible, travel out in the week before the continental holidays or after 15 July, and back in early September. That saves hours of waiting and usually a good deal of money.

Drive into the port following the signs Puerto and join your operator’s queue; in summer the police can control the inflow, and you do not simply drive into the terminal. After check-in you wait on the quay until boarding starts. Stay with the car, keep the children with you and make sure of water and shade. On the quay there are toilets and in summer a Marhaba reception point.

On board it is full in summer: the cabins are sold out weeks ahead and the seats are taken quickly. So book the cabin with the ticket, not on board. In Beni Ensar customs takes longest in summer, from an hour to sometimes three; how to get through is on the customs page.

Most people on the summer sailings are families from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Spain driving home to the Rif and the Oriental. Spain alone counted 968,999 Moroccan nationals on 1 January 2025, its largest foreign community, according to the INE, and France around 902,300 residents born in Morocco in 2024, according to INSEE. Nobody counts the cars per country, but the Spanish side measures the whole: the Operación Paso del Estrecho 2025 recorded 3,488,208 passengers and 857,851 vehicles between 15 June and 15 September, a record, according to the Spanish interior ministry, on top of the Moroccan Marhaba figures above.