For more than 50 years, a ferry link across the Strait of Gibraltar kept Moroccan families together. Now it’s gone, and its closure hits some generations harder than others.
On the 28th June, 2026, the ferry connecting Gibraltar to Morocco MV Tanger Express operated by DFDS sailed for the last time, disembarking in the port of Gibraltar. The Gibraltar government confirmed later the end of the ferry service as part of the implementation of the UK-EU agreement settling Gibraltar’s post-Brexit status.
To most people following the Brexit negotiations, it was a small detail in a much bigger story about borders and trade. But for some of the members of the Moroccan community of Gibraltar, it was the loss of a lifeline. This is because there is a story behind this historic route.
The story of this historic ferry route goes back to 1969, when Spain’s government under General Francisco Franco closed the border between Gibraltar and Spain in a dispute over sovereignty.
Overnight, Gibraltar lost the Spanish workers it depended on. Morocco, close by and with a centuries old trading relationship with Britain, stepped in to fill the gap. Moroccan workers soon became essential to Gibraltar’s shipyards, construction sites, and public services. Their legal status, however, was fragile.
For decades, Moroccan residents in Gibraltar held only temporary permits tied to their jobs, with no guaranteed path to citizenship. It wasn’t until after 2012 that the rules changed; before that, becoming a British national required 25 years of continuous residence.
Through all of it, the ferry was the thread that kept families connected across the Strait. Members of the Moroccan community living in Gibraltar cannot forget some of the ships that operated in this route, mainly three ships in particular the MV Mons Calpe, which ran the route in the 1960s and ’70s, and the MV Idriss I, which took over in the 1980s until mid ’90s, followed by MV Estrella Del Mar, among others.
These ferries carried Gibraltar’s Moroccan workers to visit their spouses, children, and elderly parents back in Morocco, often on weekends. Their spouses and children, in return, could visit them in Gibraltar only once a year, during a short summer single-entry visa.
Gibraltar’s minister for relations with Morocco, Dr. John Cortés, Minister for developing relations with the Kingdom of Morocco summed up the significance of this historic ferry route in comments to the Gibraltar Chronicle, stating that the ferry “formed part of daily life, transporting workers and families in their movements across the Strait, along with their traditions, their culture and their way of life.”
The Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabián Picardo likewise used the occasion to recognise the Moroccan community’s long contribution to Gibraltar’s economy and culture.
Maurice Halbwachs argued that collective memory relies on spatial frames (physical places, objects, or structures that anchor shared memories). Based on his argument, a physical route or transport line can act as a spatial frame as well.
A ferry is not just a transport medium moving people from one point to another; the routine journey itself keeps a community’s shared identity and history alive.
Alike the dozens of ferries that operate in Marhaba operation during the summer period, the ferry that connected Gibraltar to Morocco allowed the Moroccan community working in the Rock to visit their families in Morocco every weekend and during religious celebrations like the Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha. The ferry route, hence, kept that community very close to Morocco despite living in the other side of the Strait. It is the spatial frame of the community.
The end of the ferry route will not be felt the same way by everyone in the community. In fact, for the first generation of the Moroccan community of Gibraltar, those who arrived after 1969, the ferry was often their only realistic way to see close family in Morocco.
Some had children who grew up with relatives back home while both parents worked in Gibraltar, reunited only during a single summer visit. For them, losing the ferry is like losing part of their past memories.
For their grandchildren, it’s a different story. Many third-generation members were born in Gibraltar. They hold British passports, and stay connected to their Moroccan heritage through the mosque, community organizations, and language spoken at home. They visit their Morocco during summer holidays. The end of this ferry route means nothing to them as they go via Spain either to take the ferry from Algeciras or Tarifa to Morocco or to come from Morocco via these ports.
What’s Left
With the ferry route gone forever, the only way left to cross the Strait is through Spain by land before crossing the Strait as holders of the Gibraltar green residency card are allowed now to enter Spain since Gibraltar is now part of the Schengen zone.
Now, probably it is more relaxing to travel from Gibraltar to Morocco as there are ferries departing every hour from Algeciras and Tarifa. However, for members of the first generation of Gibraltar’s Moroccan community, the disappearance of the direct ferry route between the Rock and Morocco means losing something that defined their presence in Gibraltar.
The post Op-ed: The last ferry ends a Moroccan history Gibraltar should remember appeared first on HESPRESS English - Morocco News.
