The maritime routes that run between Huelva and the Canary Islands, declared of public interest, have started the year with a decrease of 33% in the number of passengers in the months of January and February in relation to the same period of the previous year.
A decrease clearly impacted by the decision, in mid-April 2024, that only one line covers the Huelva-Canary Islands route after the shipping company Armas-Transmediterránea stopped operating, which passed through Lanzarote, following its decision to take its services to the port of Cádiz.
According to data from the port of Huelva consulted by EFE, these regular lines have registered a total of 5,476 compared to 8,264 last year in these two months.
Regarding the number of vehicles transported, the number has gone from 4,776 in January and February 2024 to 3,359 in the first two months of that year, which is 1,417 less and a decrease of 29.6%.
Since then, only the service offered by the shipping companies Fred. Olsen Express and Baleària, through their alliance Canary Bridge Seaways (CBS), remains; it is a triangular route between the ports of Huelva, La Luz in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
These shipping companies, between July 1 and September 30, 2024, offered twice as many connections as last year, with an additional departure to the three they usually make, to meet the demand of the summer period, both for passengers and for the transport of rolling cargo between the Peninsula and the Canary Islands.
These lines were declared of public interest in February 2022 by the Council of Ministers, establishing Public Service Obligations on them consisting of maintaining a minimum frequency of one weekly trip on each of them.
