Luis Aguilera visits OPE facilities in Cadiz and attends meeting of Steering Committee ahead of busiest days

The Under-Secretary of the Ministry for Home Affairs, Luis Aguilera, together with the Government Representative in Andalusia, Antonio Sanz, and the Director-General for Civil Protection and Emergencies, Juan Díaz Cruz, took part on Wednesday in the meeting of the Steering Committee of the provincial plan of Operation 'Crossing the Strait' and visited the facilities of the OPE at the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa, as well as the emergency area in Los Barrios, coinciding with the forthcoming critical days in the Departure Phase.

This operation, coordinated by the Directorate-General of Civil Protection and Emergencies, is the largest operation carried out throughout Europe to organise the travel plans of close on three million people in such a short time-span as three months.
During his visit, he was received by the Mayors of Algeciras, José Ignacio Landaluce, and of Tarifa, Francisco Ruiz Giráldez, as well as by the President of the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras, Manuel Morón, who, together with the police and Guardia Civil authorities in the area, accompanied them during their tour round the control posts of the National Police Force and the Guardia Civil, social services and healthcare and Red Cross modules set up in each port.

Luis Aguilera pointed out that, to date, the operation has unfolded according to plan. However, we should not drop our guard as the dates are drawing closer on which the mechanism will be tested to its limits, working at its maximum, which may cause difficulties as a result of any circumstance that are hard to plan for, for example, a storm in the Strait of Gibraltar, such as the one a few days ago.

The Under-Secretary of the Ministry for Home Affairs thanked the personnel involved for their dedication and hard work in helping contribute to the smooth flow and security with which the operation is unfolding and hopes for citizen collaboration at all times to cope with the recommendations from the civil protection authorities.

The dissemination of the preventive measures and responsible attitude of citizens will enable the measures adopted to be carried through more effectively, as happened last year, a fact that contributed to the positive results of the operation in 2015.

Meeting of provincial Steering Committee prior to critical days

Chaired by the Deputy Government Representative in the province of Cadiz, Javier De Torre, to coincide with the forthcoming critical days ahead in which the largest movement of vehicles is due to take place, the Steering Committee of the OPE Provincial Plan for Cadiz met in Algeciras on Wednesday to analyse the regional mechanism and the extraordinary measures that may be adopted.

Planning your trip and avoid travelling on critical days

Ministerio del Interior

The authorities advise citizens in the areas affected to make their travel plans to avoid, as far as possible, the heavy traffic that may take place in light of the tail-backs forecast leading to the ports of Algeciras and Tarifa, coinciding with the upcoming weekend dates of 23, 24, and 25 July and, in particular, of 29, 30 and 31 July, together with 1 and 2 August.

During these days with the largest tail-backs of vehicles, the possibility of exchanging tickets between shipping lines at the ports of Tarifa and Algericas will remain valid such that passengers, upon arriving at the port, can take the first ship that sails.

On another note, and in the same way as in 2015, the embarkation of goods and passengers may be separated in order to speed up flows. The preventive closure of vehicles to the port in the city of Tarifa will also be applied as from 2 pm on 29 July to 12 pm on 3 August. At any event, passengers and buses will be allowed to embark from this port.

Once again, the Directorate-General of Civil Protection and Emergencies has fitted-out the emergency area in Los Barrios this year, which is prepared to take in up to 10,000 people and 2.500 vehicles waiting to embark with the corresponding provision of healthcare and maintenance personnel, in case it is necessary to activate this on an extraordinary basis.

Information and recommendations as preventive measures

With the aim of expediting the flow of traffic and travel safety, the millions of people who cross the Strait of Gibraltar will be provided with information on the highway panels of the Directorate-General of Traffic (Spanish acronym: DGT), on the state of the highways and the best routes to take.

In addition, they will also be provided with information on the development of the operation on the websites of the different bodies, particularly on the webpage of the Directorate-General of Civil Protection and Emergencies and of the DGT.

Furthermore, among the measures adopted this year, the information systems have been improved to provide better information on vehicles crossing the border. The Directorate-General of Traffic has set up a system that reports on the vehicles crossing through Irun and La Junquera and at other strategic points on the routes with the heaviest traffic and which allows for the greatest movements of vehicles to be avoided and to anticipate the most appropriate measures, as far as this is possible.