Rusadir

After the 'Rusadir' returned to the port of Melilla after a technical problem on Jan 31, the Maritime Authority under the Ministry of Transporwas investigating whether the ship had departed from the autonomous city amid very adverse weather conditions. The incident was not under the jurisdiction of the Melilla Port Authority. The ship had been remaining at sea for several hours as it was unable to return to the port of Melilla. It entered the port at approximately 1:00 p.m. Immediately thereafter, the company chartered another vessel to transfer the passengers.

On the early morning of Jan 31, 2026, the 'Rusadir' suffered an electrical problem, causing an engine failure in the Alboran Sea enroute from Melilla to Malaga, forcing it to return to the autonomous city with 4860 passengers on board in the middle of a storm. The ship was anchored near the North African coast, waiting to enter the port of Melilla. Strong winds and rough seas prevented it from doing so, and it was operating with only one engine. Finally, after a 15-hour ordeal, it managed to return to port. The ship finally docked at one of the piers in the port of Melilla around 4:00 p.m. after departing at approximately 1:15 a.m. Shortly after its return to port, the passengers began to disembark, and many of them decided not to continue their journey to Málaga on the ferry chartered by the company and instead remained in Melilla. They went directly to the Baleària ticket shop to file a complaint at the maritime station, where police were present. A total of 264 passengers, slightly less than half of those traveling on the 'Rusadir', re-embarked for Málaga on the vessel chartered by Baleària, the 'Volcán de Timanfaya' of the Armas Trasmediterránea company, which had been docked in the port of Melilla and departed just an hour later. Report with photo: https://www.eldia.es/sociedad/2026/01/31/atraca-melilla-ferry-malaga-motor-averiado-126304373.amp.html

On the night of Ma 20, 2025, a fire broke out in a cabin on deck 9 of th "Rusadir," which operates the Melilla-Málaga route, The immediate evacuation of passengers in the affected area to deck 10 was ordered, while work began to extinguish the fire, It was extinguished by the ship's crew, and the area was isolated to prevent further damage, half an hour after the ship left the port of Melilla, Although the ship was still close to the port of Melilla, the captain decided to continue the voyage after informing passengers that the situation was under control.

An electronic problem in a propeller on the 'Rusadir' caused delays on the Málaga-Melilla route on March 10, 2025, The shipping company mobilized the 'Dènia CC' as a replacement. The 'Rusadir' remained sidelined in Málaga as of March 11.

Balearia has chartered the "Honfleur" and is pending adaptation of the side ramps and painting it with the corporate image of the shipping company chaired by Adolfo Utor. The ship has been moored since Feb 2022, at the Nauta Gdynia in the port of Gdynia. Balearia has inspection personnel in Gydnia, and the intention is to have it in service next March. Chartered on time charter initially for six months, the ship built at the request of Brittany Ferries now has the Cyprus flag. Most likely, it will be used on the Huelva-Canary Islands rpute next summer, due to its high number of cabins and services on board, although Malaga-Melilla-Almería is also being considered. In any case, it is possible that Balearia will use it also on other lines, such as Barcelona-Palma, Barcelona-Ibiza-Valencia-Palma or Valencia-Ibiza. Built on behalf of Brittany Ferries at the Flensburger Schiffau shipyard and launched in Dec2018, the final assembly was not completed on time due to financial problems at the shipyard, which ended up declaring bankruptcy. There was even talk of the possible scrapping of her, although she was later finished at the Fosen shipyard in Rissa, where she arrived under tow in Oct 2020. Report with photo: https://www.puentedemando.com/huelva-canarias-probable-estreno-del-ferry-honfleur/