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Spain Approves Special Plan for Operation Crossing the Strait 2025

Apr 25, 2025 | Current affairs, Featured, Interview, Portada, Post, Revista Lloseta, Thursday Daily Bulletin, Tradition

The Ministry of the Interior has approved the special plan for the 36th edition of Operation Crossing the Strait (Operación Paso del Estrecho – OPE), following a meeting of the State Committee for Coordination and Direction (CECOD), chaired by Undersecretary Susana Crisóstomo.

The OPE, which facilitates the largest transcontinental movement of people in Europe —and one of the largest globally— will operate from June 15 to September 15, with projections estimating the passage of over three million people and more than 800,000 vehicles between Europe and North Africa via road and sea.

According to forecasts, 2025 will see a 5% increase in vehicle traffic and a 4% rise in passenger numbers compared to 2024, which had already set a historic record with 3.4 million travellers and nearly 850,000 vehicles.

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Spain Approves Special Plan for Operation Crossing the Strait 2025

Crisóstomo, joined by the Director General of Civil Protection and Emergencies, Virginia Barcones, emphasised that the OPE is “an example of international cooperation, strategic planning, prevention, execution, and human commitment.”

The OPE 2025 Special Plan includes:

  • A Fleet Plan determines the number of ships, their capacity, and the required frequency of crossings.
  • Provincial coordination plans.
  • Specific plans for the nine participating ports: Algeciras and Tarifa (Cádiz), Almería, Málaga, Motril (Granada), Alicante, Valencia, Ceuta, and Melilla.
  • Road safety plans.

The coordination effort involves 20 national government bodies, as well as regional and local institutions. Agencies attending the CECOD meeting included representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Health, and various government delegations from affected regions.

Barcones highlighted the “coordinated and effective effort” involved in this large-scale operation, which has been organised every summer since 1986 to support Maghreb-origin citizens travelling from Europe to North Africa.