Closed since March 20, 2020, the maritime link between Algiers and Marseille has resumed service. On October 12, the Algerian Ministry of Transport announced in a statement that the public company Algérie Ferries is again authorized to transport travelers to France. This resumption was carried out at the rate of two connections per week, outward and return.
Announced with great fanfare, the resumption of sea crossings between Algeria and France therefore took place on November 1 with the first service between Algiers and Marseille on board the new ship Badji Mokhtar III. It is also Prime Minister Aymen Benabderrahmane who proceeded in person on October 28 to the inauguration of this new boat, recently acquired from China.
The Badji Mokhtar III has a carrying capacity of 1,800 passengers and 600 vehicles. There are two restaurants, a tea room and play areas for children. Faster, this brand new ship makes it possible to make the Algiers-Marseille crossing in 18 hours, almost six hours less than the previous ships.
Port of Marseille: Algeria Ferries in the spotlight
The resumption of crossings between Algeria and France was greeted with joy by Algerians on both sides of the Mediterranean. It is enough to see the hundreds of citizens who stormed the travel agencies of the Algeria Ferries company in order to obtain a ticket.
Whether in Algiers, Paris, Marseille or Lyon, hundreds of people jumped in front of Algeria Ferries agencies to get the famous sesame . Taken by storm, the Algerian company went so far as to call its customers to reserve their seats on the Internet in order to avoid the scrambling scenes in front of the agencies, and to call on third-party agencies to contain the flow of customers.
However, the plight of customers does not end with the sole concern of purchasing the ticket, as pointed out by many passengers who boarded the Badji Mokhtar III during the first Marseille-Algiers crossing on November 6. A concern also denounced by a deputy for Emigration to the Algerian National Assembly. In a message published on November 6 on his Facebook page, the deputy Abdelouahab Yagoubi, wanted to denounce the “bad conditions” in the “handling of Algerian travelers” by the company Algérie Ferries at the port of Marseille. “The resumption of sea crossings after a year and a half of stoppage took place in catastrophic conditions for the first Marseille-Algiers crossing,” Writes the deputy in his message accompanied by numerous photos illustrating his remarks.
“Algerians humiliated” at the port of Marseille, denounces an emigration deputy
In his message, the deputy enumerated the numerous shortcomings with regard to the travelers of Algeria Ferries at the level of the port of Marseille. “A single counter to check luggage, total lack of support for travelers, especially families and the elderly,” he writes not without denouncing what he describes as “a great humiliation for Algerians“.
In this regard, the deputy for Emigration indicated that all the “remarks and shortcomings” that he had observed at the Algerian shipping company at the port of Marseille were raised with the officials of ENMTV in Marseille, of the control and security company (Mondial Protection) and the French border police (PAF), not without adding to have informed the Algerian authorities about what he describes as “bad management” on the part of the officials in charge of maritime transport sector in Algeria.
