The Operation Crossings of the Strait (OPE) 2025 ends this Monday, September 15, after three months of continuous operations to facilitate the transit of Maghreb residents between Europe and North Africa. With consolidated data until this Sunday, September 14, the return phase records 1,762,582 passengers and 420,495 vehicles moved in 5,337 rotations. In year-on-year terms, passengers grow by 2.9% and vehicles by 2.5%, while the number of ship trips decreases by 9.6%.
The line scheme confirms the centrality of the Strait in the return phase. The Tangier Med–Algeciras connection handles 46.5% of the total by vehicles, followed by the Ceuta–Algeciras link, with 14.3%. The Nador–Almería route reaches 13.2% and ranks as the third option for return, ahead of Tangier Ville–Tarifa, which accounts for around 12% of road traffic. Overall, traffic with origin or destination in Algeciras exceeds 60% of the total return.
The rest of the lines are distributed with greater dispersion. Among those with lower demand in vehicles are Ghazaouet–Almería (0.3%), Tangier Med–Motril (0.4%), Oran–Almería (0.5%) and Algiers–Alicante (0.6%). Although their relative weight is reduced, these connections maintain their function of territorial capillarity in the distribution of flows between the southern peninsular facade and the ports of the Maghreb.
The operational balance of September 14 illustrates the pulse of the final stretch. That day, 62 rotations were recorded, with 15,577 passengers and 4,106 vehicles boarded in the entirety of the operation. By lines, Tangier Med–Algeciras operated 29 trips (5,471 passengers and 1,900 vehicles), Tangier Ville–Tarifa 11 (2,988 passengers and 346 vehicles) and Nador–Almería 2 (2,062 passengers and 578 vehicles). The distribution of the remaining rotations completed the offer to absorb the staggered returns of the last week.
