Located only about 130 miles from the Strait of Gibraltar, one of the busiest shipping routes in the cruise industry, Melilla is a city full of attractions.
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It's a port that has always lived facing the sea, as evidenced by the Fishermen's Square, with its monument commemorating that profession, located next to the city walls, near the port entrance. It's also a city with a rich and complex history, as evidenced by its fortresses, walls, and other historical sites, which constitute one of the best-preserved areas in the Mediterranean.
But it also offers an expansion full of modernist gems, known as the Golden Triangle. From Plaza de España, where Casa Melul and the Assembly Palace are located, it continues along Calle Ejército Español (with the Chamber of Commerce and the offices of the Telegrama del Rif) to the La Reconquista building.
The first cruise ships arrived in Melilla at the beginning of the 21st century.
It is this melting pot of sea, history, and modernity that makes Melilla a destination with remarkable potential as a cruise ship transit port, coupled with its role as a true gateway to the Rif Mountains. Added to this are the shopping opportunities offered by Melilla, thanks to its special taxes.
The first cruise ship stops in Melilla
At the beginning of the previous decade, around 2004, the Deputy Ministry of Tourism of the Autonomous City of Melilla began to carry out all kinds of procedures to turn Melilla into a port of call for cruise ships sailing through the Mediterranean.
As early as 2002, 360 cruise passengers were recorded in transit, a number that grew to 1,483 in 2005 thanks to Holland America Line, after two years of non-stop service. That year also saw the arrival of the Albatros, operated by the German company Phoenix Kreuz.
The first cruise ship calls arrived in 2006, again initiated by Holland America Line, whose ship Prinsendam made its inaugural call in Melilla in 2005, and returned three times in 2006. The first call that year was on August 16, following an announcement by the Deputy Minister of Tourism of the Autonomous City of Melilla, Javier Mateo. This coincided with the tenth edition of Melilla's Nautical Week. The Prinsendam returned to the autonomous city in October and December of that year.
The conversion of the Mediterranean into a year-round cruise destination will improve Melilla's options as a port of call.
At the recent Melilla Cruise Forum, Chris Martin, director of port operations for Holland America Group, stated that his impression of Melilla was very positive, although he acknowledged that work will be needed in some areas to make it a destination for Mediterranean cruise ships within a few years. As the president of the Port Authority had already mentioned, this expert also indicated that this work will not bear fruit immediately, but rather that the positive effects will be seen in a few years. However, he reiterated that the city has the necessary characteristics to become an attractive destination. He did not, however, make any statement regarding the return of his company's ships to Melilla.
British independent shipowners, such as Fred Olsen and Saga Holidays, are the main customers of the port of Melilla.
The other shipping company that chose Melilla in 2006 was Kristina Cruises, a Finnish shipowner now defunct in the cruise market, which brought its ship Kristina Regina with around 350-400 Scandinavians (mostly Finns). The ship docked in the spring of 2006 at the Mineral Loading Dock, and returned the following year.
In 2007 the number of cruise passengers remained more or less the same, with 1,495 cruise passengers, which was maintained in 2008 with 1,390 passengers.
In 2009, a year with no cruise ship calls, the media reported on the efforts of the Autonomous City to promote cruise ship arrivals and boost the local tourism sector, which had been severely impacted by the economic crisis. The Deputy Ministry of Tourism continued to focus on attracting ships to the city, as it was seen as a convenient way to encourage visitors, even for short stays. The regional government intended to continue pursuing this market, implementing improvements to make the city an attractive destination.
In 2010, the Ribera II dock, connected to the new Maritime Station, became operational, leading to an increase in cruise ship arrivals: five calls were made, carrying 2,265 passengers. One of these was the Corinthian II, which brought 174 American tourists on November 19. The ship docked at the new Maritime Station and offered an extended stopover that lasted from early morning until 10:00 p.m. The Saga Pearl II also visited Melilla in September.
In 2011, only 844 cruise passengers arrived in Melilla, on four separate calls. The Saga Pearl II was scheduled to return in December, but had to cancel its stop due to bad weather. That year, the Port Authority introduced new discounts (20%) on port fees for cruise ships.
Holland America Line is a regular customer of Melilla.
In 2012, the Melilla Maritime Station participated for the first time in Seatrade Miami, an initiative that began in 2011. That year, 2,687 passengers arrived on six cruise ship calls. Operations at this new terminal began on July 1, 2011, and that year it handled 700,000 passengers and 100,000 vehicles, thanks in part to Naviera Armas' new ferry service between Melilla and Motril. In 2012, Holland America's Prinsendam returned, docking in March, and Kristina Cruises also returned, this time with its new flagship, the Kristina Katharina, which arrived in October with 550 Finnish passengers. Another familiar ship, the Albatros, arrived on December 2 with several hundred German passengers. On October 30, the classic Saga Ruby, from Saga Holidays, another British operator loyal to Melilla, arrived in the autonomous city a day later than planned due to a series of technical problems that kept it in Tangier, its previous stop.
2013: Melilla's Star Year for Cruise Ships.
In 2013, seven cruise ships called at the port, carrying 3,248 passengers. To date, this has been Melilla's star year for cruise ships. On Sunday, July 7, 2013, two cruise ships were in the Port of Melilla for the first time: the Boudicca, from the Norwegian cruise line Fred Olsen Cruises Lines, and the luxury ship Corinthian, from the North American tour operator Grand Circle Tours. In addition, the approximately 1,200 British and American cruise passengers coincided with the Medieval Market. Fred Olsen was the only cruise line to send two ships, as the Braemar also called at Melilla. Other cruise lines also made repeat calls: the Kristina Katarina returned in April, and the Saga Ruby came back in May.
All the Administrations of Melilla collaborate together in attracting cruise ship calls.
That year, Melilla attended the ITB Berlin trade fair in January with the aim of increasing the number of German tourists visiting the city. The ships dedicated to this market, especially those from companies like Plantours and Hapag-Lloyd, which have never docked in the autonomous city, clearly demonstrate the growth potential of cruise traffic in Melilla. Only Phoenix Reisen has had a presence in Melilla.
But continuing with the sawtooth pattern, 2014 was a year to forget: a single port call, with only 254 passengers. It was the Silver Wind, perhaps the only super-luxury vessel to have called at the docks of the Autonomous City. Given the size of ships in this segment, it will undoubtedly be a clear commercial target for the Melilla port community in the future.
In 2015, Melilla received three cruise ship calls, carrying 1,352 passengers. Once again, the star of the year was the Boudicca, which returned on November 8th as the largest ship to dock in the port, with approximately 1,200 people on board, 350 of whom were crew members. They were greeted by staff from the Autonomous City's Tourism Office, who distributed maps, brochures, fans, and other items, as well as by National Police officers who handed out leaflets with tips for enjoying their holidays safely. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, a long-established company in the port, offered a wide range of optional excursions, as well as several shuttle buses that took passengers to Plaza de España.
The 2016 season
saw the Balmoral cruise ship, again from Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, make its only port call in 2016, carrying 1,224 passengers. Arriving on October 13th, it became the largest ship of its kind to ever dock in the city, measuring 217.91 meters in length. Nearly 500 passengers disembarked after booking optional excursions with a local operator, who used eight coaches. Others explored the Melilla La Vieja area, Plaza de España, and Plaza de las Culturas on their own.
Melilla has great potential in the German cruise market.
The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Javier Mateo, told the press that it was a "true source of pride" to receive the largest cruise ship in Melilla's history, stating that "the business volume has already begun because from its entry into the port it is already paying the shipping agent, its docking fee which can be around 11,000 euros, the excursions... Right from the start it is providing work for the buses and the tour guides, in addition to what they may consume in the city.".
2017 marked a turning point for cruise traffic in Melilla, but in a negative sense, as it received no cruise ship calls during a year of recovery in this sector for Spanish ports. This prompted a renewed commercial effort to attract cruise ships back to the city. That year, weekend cruises were announced by the President of the City, Juan José Imbroda, as a way to showcase Melilla as a shopping destination, highlighting its rich heritage and diverse cuisine.
In 2018 and 2019, Melilla will once again receive cruise ships following an agreement reached at the end of last year with Saga Holidays, a long-time client of the port. Thanks to this agreement, the Saga Pearl II will dock in the port of Melilla on November 19th, as part of the 17-night "The Moorish Mediterranean" round-trip itinerary from Portsmouth. It will return on January 23rd, 2019, as part of a 15-night "Spanish Moorish & Andalusia" itinerary from Portsmouth.
Saga Holidays' flagship, the Saga Sapphire, will make a stop in Melilla on April 4, 2020, as part of a two-week cruise from Southampton called "Flavours of the Iberian Peninsula".
Melilla, being exempt from VAT, offers an added attraction to shipowners: the tax benefit. If a ship stops in Melilla, VAT is not declared on the cruise.
These scales must be assessed in the context of the efforts being made by the Administration of the Autonomous City to try to recover this traffic.
Adapting Melilla to Cruise Traffic:
The recent Melilla Cruise Forum highlighted a number of prerequisites, developed in conjunction with the Port Authority and the Administration, to improve infrastructure for receiving cruise ships. Melilla needs to be provided with guides, interpreters, buses, organized excursions, and so on. All of these services must be publicly available and prepared well in advance of the cruise passengers' arrival.
And all of this needs to be done in close collaboration with all levels of government, as highlighted by Luis Carvalho, CEO of Bermello Ajamil & Partners Europe, to position Melilla as a cruise destination. During the inauguration of the Melilla Cruise Forum, he expressed his satisfaction that the city's main authorities were united by a common goal. “This is not entirely common, and in this type of sector, the value lies in building a strong working platform to move forward in the long term. Not with a two- or three-year horizon, but with a view to fifteen or twenty years.”.
It is also necessary to improve communication and information about Melilla on social media and the Internet, and to offer that information in several languages.
Melilla's geographical location justifies a special tax regime, the most notable aspect of which is that Value Added Tax (VAT) is not applied. Instead, the Tax on Production, Services, and Imports (IPSI) is levied. However, there is a supplementary tax on tobacco products, fuel, and lubricants. Regarding excise duties, only the Special Tax on Certain Means of Transport and the Special Tax on Electricity are levied.
There are approximately 240 cruise ships with an overall length of less than 250 meters, which is roughly the maximum length that the port of Melilla could accommodate. In addition to retaining long-standing clients such as Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, Saga Holidays, and Grand Circle Travel, it is necessary to attract other cruise lines like Silversea, Seabourn, Ponant, Oceania, and Viking River Cruises. These lines cater to the upper premium or luxury market, with mid-sized ships ideally suited to the dimensions of the two docks at the Maritime Station, and attract passengers with high purchasing power. Furthermore, some of these lines operate ships in the Mediterranean year-round on itineraries with a strong historical and cultural focus, for which Melilla's presence would represent an interesting new addition.
Melilla enjoys a privileged position in the western Mediterranean, in an area frequented by cruise ships, especially in spring and autumn, coinciding with the beginning and end of the summer season in the Mediterranean. It is located 115 miles from Málaga and 95 miles from Almería, an ideal distance for becoming a complementary transit port to those destinations. The same is true for Ceuta (132 miles) and Gibraltar (138 miles).
Melilla is a stopover perfectly compatible with most of the ports in southeastern Spain.
When planning itineraries, Melilla is a reasonable distance from home ports like Alicante, 225 miles (15 hours at 15 knots, ideal for a midday arrival). This port has been used, for example, by Pullmantur with the Horizon, a vessel perfectly suited (207 meters in length) to the docks of the autonomous city. The same applies to Cádiz (213 miles). Cartagena can also be a very interesting option when creating an itinerary, given that it is only 167 miles away (10-11 hours of sailing at 15 knots). For example, Málaga and Cartagena are practically the same distance apart (189 miles) and are consecutive stops on many itineraries.
Finally, regarding transatlantic cruises, Melilla is located 437 miles from Barcelona, while Málaga, for example, is 460 miles away. The difference lies in the 65 miles between Málaga and the Strait of Gibraltar, which is doubled in the case of Melilla. These additional 60 miles of distance must be compensated for with promotion, attractions, services, and affordable rates.
A magnificent maritime station.
In 2008, the new Melilla Maritime Station was inaugurated, an emblematic project, one of the largest and best of its kind in the Mediterranean, located on the new alignment of the Ribera Wharf. This project brought about a significant improvement in the quality of services provided, with a better level of control and security for passenger, vehicle, and roll-on/roll-off cargo traffic to and from the Spanish mainland. The Maritime Station building is unique in several aspects, most notably the quality of its facilities, its large, naturally lit spaces, automated climate control, and so on. Its budget was 24 million euros (18 million of which were co-financed by the European Union).
The Melilla Maritime Station is one of the best infrastructures of its kind in the Mediterranean.
The Maritime Station offers approximately 14,827 m² of built space, with a main building that serves as a hub for boarding areas, arrival waiting areas, and service areas including restaurants, leisure facilities, shipping company offices, etc. The ground floor opens onto a spacious area that channels vehicle traffic towards the security checkpoints. Here, the entrance hall is located, from which escalators and elevators lead to the first floor, where boarding and disembarking take place. The security and control areas are strategically located, forming a single, unified space within the main building.
On November 25, 2008, the Maritime Station of the Port of Melilla began operating at full capacity with the docking of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife ferry of Acciona Transmediterránea, which departed for Almería.
On January 19, 2011, the concession for the operation of the Maritime Station at the Port of Melilla was awarded, with the aim of improving operational flexibility and transforming it into a 24-hour open meeting place, thus enhancing the civic dimension of this port infrastructure. The concessionaire manages not only the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers and goods, but also the entire area, providing new spaces for commerce and other activities with public and social impact, seeking to maximize the Maritime Station's potential. It offers two berths: Ribera I, 224 meters long with a 10-meter draft, and Ribera II, 180 meters long.
The Maritime Station is perfectly suited to receive cruise ships.
In this sense, this infrastructure clearly enhances the role of a transit port in cruise traffic since it can offer all the necessary services: security, access control, etc., in addition to being located very close to the city's tourist attractions, such as Melilla Vieja.
A modernist stronghold in North Africa,
the city of Melilla offers visitors a wide array of the finest examples of modernist buildings in Spain, second only to Barcelona. Enrique Nieto, a disciple of Antoni Gaudí, was the architect who designed the most outstanding buildings of modernist Melilla. This Barcelona-born architect built the finest and most representative buildings of modernist Melilla from 1909 onwards, for a period of forty years.
The catalog of modernist buildings in Melilla is only comparable in Spain to Barcelona.
His style went through several stages, so that we find not only Modernist buildings in Melilla, but also Classical, Baroque, and Art Deco styles. The expansion of Melilla is the greatest representation of Modernism in Africa, with more than a thousand listed buildings that, since 1987, have formed the Historic-Artistic Ensemble of the City of Melilla, a Site of Cultural Interest, distributed between the central expansion and its surrounding neighborhoods. The Assembly Palace, located in Plaza de España and currently housing the City Hall, was his last work in Melilla before his retirement and death in 1954. Its façade and interior are in the Art Deco style, with a remarkable main hall featuring twin staircases, galleries supported by columns, and a skylight with a stained-glass window in the ceiling.
Among his other most important works are the El Acueducto building, the La Reconquista building, the Chamber of Commerce, the Casa de los Cristales, the former Hotel Reina Victoria, the Casa de Tortosa, the Casa Vicente Martínez, the Casino Español, the former building of the El Telegrama del Rif newspaper, the Mosque, the Crystal Palace, the Mercado del Real, etc.
The fortified city.
The recent Melilla Cruise Forum highlighted some of the city's fortresses (literally) as potential tourist destinations. The fortified city and Melilla's modernist architecture are the two historical and artistic assets around which the Melilla government's promotional efforts have focused. According to Mónica Georgiou of Columbia Cruise Services, one of the speakers at the first Melilla Cruise Forum, Melilla is "a treasure waiting to be discovered. It's a place that needs to be promoted so that cruise ship passengers and visitors in general have the opportunity to see such a beautiful place."
The walled city of Melilla, also known as Old Melilla or El Pueblo, comprises the fortified enclosure whose construction began in the 15th century atop the cliff where the ancient Phoenician city of Rusadir once stood. Rusadir was destroyed and rebuilt several times throughout history by Vandals, Arabs, and Berbers. It stands as an impressive fortress jutting out into the sea, reminiscent of iconic Mediterranean cruise ships like Dubrovnik or Rhodes.
The bastions of Melilla are one of its main tourist attractions.
This monumental complex comprises four enclosures separated by a moat. The first three face the sea, while the fourth extends inland. The Rosario and Victorias forts are prominent features of this last enclosure.
The walled city of Melilla is one of the best-preserved walled enclosures in the Mediterranean.
The buildings of the Alcazaba are remarkable, offering a panoramic view of the Land Front and part of the Galapagos Cove, the Rams' Moat with the Alafia Tower, and the San Fernando Barracks and Bastion. Also noteworthy are the San Pedro and San José Bastions located in the second enclosure or Plaza de Armas.
