Tarifa-based ferry operator FRS Iberia is exploring plans to increase the frequency of its service between Gibraltar and the Moroccan port of Tangier.

The service has been operated on a weekly basis for some time but company officials believe there may be scope for daily sailings. Their rationale hinges on the increase in flights at Gibraltar airport, particularly to the Spanish capital.

The idea is to target tourist traffic from the Spanish hinterland – and from the UK - and use Gibraltar as a stepping stone to North Africa. “We are working to develop the commercial plan to capture traffic from these areas,” said FRS managing director Luis Mora during the summer. “We are looking to see if it’s viable.”

The company, set up by a group of travel agencies several years ago, already offers all-in packages to Moroccan destinations from Spanish ports and similar trips could be run from here.

The company has for some time been looking at ways to boost its Gibraltar schedule. But the results of an initial trial earlier this year were less than heartening. FRS operated daily services during a two-week stint at the beginning of the summer and passenger figures were disappointing. “Apart from the Friday and Sunday regular users, averaging around 180 passengers per trip, there were ten occasions when the ferry arrived from Tangier in the morning with no passengers and also left in the evening with no passengers,” said Turner, the company’s Gibraltar agent, in a statement to the local press. “The remaining days the ferry carried an average of 26 passengers to Tangier and brought back an average of 10 passengers per trip from Tangier. It does not take a degree in rocket science to see that, with passenger figures like these, a daily service is not a viable proposition to any operator, and especially those like FRS who operate fast, high consumption vessels.”

The company, which remains committed to the project, has met with Joe Holliday, Gibraltar’s Minister for Trade, Industry and Communications, to discuss various options relating to the daily service. The context to these discussions is the major investment in tourism and trade infrastructure currently in progress in northern Morocco.

The commercial development of northern Morocco is attracting substantial foreign investment to the region and the Gibraltar Government has, since last year, explored possible opportunities for joint initiatives. Mr Holliday himself travelled to Morocco last summer and held meetings with ministers and officials there.

Even at that early point, the possibility of expanded maritime links was already being explored. Earlier this year, key executives from the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency have visited Gibraltar to brief the local business community on the various projects under way.

The growth of major trade and port developments in and around Tangier could also generate business for the new ferry link, offering the opportunity for businessmen to use Gibraltar as a stepping stone across the Strait to North Africa.