The Spanish city of Cadiz recently hosted the Spanish joint commission to plan the 2025 Operation Crossing the Strait (OPE), anticipating a rise in vehicles and passengers travelling through the Iberian Peninsula from June to September 2025.
They project a 5% increase in vehicles (from 847,429 last year) and a 4% rise in passengers (reaching 3,442,770 in 2024), with 12,012 ship rotations planned, up 8.4% from the previous year. The meeting coordinated measures under Spain’s Special Civil Protection Plan to manage cross-continental travel, focusing on meeting the needs of Maghrebi citizens, ensuring smooth road traffic, and minimising port waiting times.
The operation involves 20 state, regional, and local entities, nine ports (Melilla, Ceuta, Valencia, Algeciras, Almería, Motril, Málaga, Tarifa, Alicante), and over 29,000 personnel, including security forces, healthcare workers, Red Cross volunteers, social workers, and translators.
Spain’s Interior Ministry Undersecretary, Susana Crisóstomo, praised the operation as a model of neighbourly coordination, while Morocco’s delegation, led by Khalid Zerouali, included senior officials. OPE 2025 will run from 15 June to 15 September, with departure and return phases, making it Europe’s largest such operation and one of the world’s most significant.
