The cruise ferry ‘Rusadir’ of Balearia will start operating the route between Melilla and Malaga this Monday, April 3 “and will represent a quality jump that will correspond to what the Melillenses have been claiming and demanding”.

This was announced this morning by the Delegate of the Government, Sabrina Moh, accompanied by the Territorial Delegate of Balearia, Manuel Rejano, and the Delegate of the shipping company in Melilla, Ghizlem Mustafa. A new ship “the fruit of months of work from the Government of Spain, specifically the Ministry of Transport from the General Directorate of the Merchant Navy and this Government Delegation with the Balearia company, to respond to a demand of the Melillense citizens”.

This is a newly built ferry that will cover the line of interest between Melilla and Malaga with 7 weekly rotations. “It is a state-of-the-art boat, equipped with an electric propulsion system powered by dual natural gas engines, and equipped with numerous onboard services focused on the comfort and entertainment of passengers,” said Moh.

In addition, as explained, the infrastructure has been deployed to have Wifi and other work necessary to improve customer service. “It is a boat with a large capacity, we talk about 1,670 people, with 261 cabins, two cafeterias, restaurant, store, children’s area, cinema room, prayer room, and numerous recreation areas,” he said.

A ferry that reaches 22 knots of speed so it can make the route between Melilla and Malaga in 6 hours and that “is friendly to the environment, which is a fundamental pillar that we defend from this Government,” he said.

In short, it is a ship “of new construction and of last generation, which comes to provide service and offer quality in the service that was demanded by the Melillense citizens”, he assured.

Last generation

Manuel Rejano, for his part, has made it clear that this new and latest generation ferry “is going to premiere” on the Melilla line and has highlighted its 187 meters in length and 31 in length.

“This ship is especially relevant for its sustainability and the community towards passengers,” he explained, since it is an electrically powered boat with dual gas engines, which will alternate fuel and natural gas consumption.

With a capacity of 1,670 passengers of which 800 passengers will be able to travel in cabins and which, the Territorial Delegate of Balearia, has compared to a 5 star hotel.

Better connectivity

In her statement to the media, the highest representative of the Government of Spain in our city recalled that the Executive of Pedro Sánchez has been working on better connectivity and better service.

Regarding the first issue, Moh has made it clear that “today Melilla is better connected than 5 years ago”. In this chapter he has highlighted both the work that has been done with air connections and the recovery of the routes with Almeria Seville Granada, guaranteeing them through the Public Service Obligation (PSO), approved on October 5, 2018 in the Council of Ministers and launched on May 1, 2019, as well as the work in terms of maritime connections strengthening the lines with Almeria and Malaga through the maritime contract and guaranteeing the connection with Motril through the PSO “that the previous Government denied and that it launched”.

With regard to the best service, Moh has referred to the implementation of the 33% resident bonus launched by the Government of Felipe González, the 33 to 50% increase carried out by the Executive of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero or the extension of this 50 to 75% resident bonus launched by President Pedro Sánchez.

But it has also made reference to the limitation of the price of vehicles by establishing a maximum rate that has meant a 50% reduction with respect to the prices established by the PP Government, to the penalization of reservations that are not used -no show-, the improvement of trips with pets… and the arrival of the new boat of Balearia.