Motril port will soon be running a direct ferry line to Morocco, as well as to the Spanish, North African enclave city of Melilla. The shipping line, Naviera Armas has announced that it will be connecting Motril to Alhucemas, which is a Moroccan city of some 180,000 souls.

This daily connection will not only give people from this area easy access to Morocco, but it also give Morocco a very short sea route to Europe via south-eastern Spain.

But this might prove to be just the beginning as the ferry line sees Motril Port as having great potential for other routes – long gone are the days when Motril Port had a trickle of commercial mass-bulk traffic. Just the ferry plying the Melilla route, Volcán de Timanfaya, will open the doors to around 100,000 North Africans choosing Motril to return home for Ramadan, it is estimated. In just one year of existence, 130,000 people have chosen Motril for its proximity to North Africa and its very competitive prices.

Finally, representatives from ferry lines that stop in at Motril and Málaga have visited Almuñécar with a view to including this coastal town in the ‘places to visit’ for its passengers whilst stopping over, by including the destination in their catalogues. Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line were amongst them.

(News: Almunecar/Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada Andalucia)