The balance of the departure operation of the OPE (Operation Crossing the Strait), which ended on 15 August after two months of operation, has resulted in 14% fewer passengers in the Port of Almeria than in 2019, the last reference year before the pandemic. The number of passengers this summer was 239,976 compared with the 280,312 recorded in 2019, i.e. 14% less. In terms of vehicles, the decrease was also around 14%, 57,922 in 2022 compared to 67,046 in 2019. There were also fewer rotations, 326 compared to 405 (20% less than in 2019).
In terms of the assistance system, the figures were down compared to the 2019 edition. Social assistance to travellers decreased significantly (-44.8%), as did health assistance, which fell by 41.2%, and translations, which fell by 40.4%. This decrease reflects, on the other hand, the good performance of boardings, with fewer incidents and delays.
As for the coming days, the outbound flow will continue to decrease significantly in favour of the return flow, so that the OPE departure operation is considered concluded without having been able to recover pre-pandemic figures in terms of both the number of passengers and vehicles embarked.
As for the overall traffic of the rest of the Spanish ports, Almeria has consolidated its position as the second most important port of the OPE with 17% of vehicle embarkation, after Algeciras with 65.5%, and well above Tarifa with 8.1%. The port of Almeria is also in first place in terms of number of destinations (4).
With regard to the lines, Almeria-Nador (10.5%) was only surpassed by Algeciras-Tangier (43.4%) and Algeciras-Ceuta (22.1%).
The lines with Algeria, Almeria-Oran (0.5%) and Almeria-Ghazahouet (0.4%), have remained throughout this period with very low levels of traffic and very few rotations (shipments).