26 June, 2026 by Juan Carlos Díaz Lorenzo 👁️ 4,363

The ferry “Ciudad de Valencia” bids farewell to the Canary Islands after six years on the Cádiz route

Almost six years after its incorporation to the Cádiz-Canary Islands route, initially chartered for five years with an option to purchase —which has not been executed—, the Italian-flagged ferry “Ciudad de Valencia” made its last stop today at the ports of Santa Cruz de La Palma and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and tomorrow it will also make its last stop at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Puerto del Rosario, and Arrecife de Lanzarote.

On June 23, the aforementioned vessel, owned by the Italian company Visemar, left Cádiz on its last service on the Canary Islands route. Next Tuesday, June 30, the contract with the State ends, and since there is currently no new call for the Public Service Obligation (OSP) by the Ministry of Development, the ferry “Ciudad de Valencia”, which is the vessel assigned to this contract, ceases its operations, which means that the stops at Puerto del Rosario and Santa Cruz de La Palma are no longer on the itinerary.

For those passengers who have purchased tickets to travel to Cádiz, both in Fuerteventura and La Palma, Baleària, as the new owner of the Armas Trasmediterránea Group, has arranged preferred connections via Corralejo-Playa Blanca for the first case and via Los Cristianos for passengers from La Palma, and the same solution, at least temporarily until the new contract arrives, will be implemented for return trips.

When it arrives in Cádiz next Monday, June 29, the ferry “Ciudad de Valencia” will start covering the Valencia-Palma route on behalf of Baleària and will visit the Valencian port for the first time —to which the city pays tribute— until its return in September to its owner company Visemar, as it is chartered to DFDS for a route in the Baltic Sea.

As we have mentioned on previous occasions, it is a good ship for passengers with Italian aesthetics and capacity for the transport of rolling cargo, an elongated version of the third-generation Visentini series. The addition of a central section has proven to be a great success, equipped with a cafeteria and lounge, as well as the seventh deck at the stern, with spacious and open areas for enjoying the journey.

However, it has been a vessel with frequent technical problems due to the experimental nature of its propulsion engines —in fact, they are no longer manufactured—, which have become a recurring issue for the engine room staff and for Trasmediterránea, accumulating frequent delays, breakdowns, and numerous incidents.

We must highlight, once again, the professionalism of the crews of Trasmediterránea, especially during the last four years, who have suffered all kinds of cuts, both in personnel and resources by the managers of the bondholders and have always strived to give their best in serving the passengers of the line. This issue has been reversed by Baleària since taking over the company, reinforcing the cabin staff and providing more resources to improve the quality of service on board, following their usual premises as in the rest of the fleet.

For the return of its last trip on the Cádiz route, the ferry “Ciudad de Valencia” bids farewell to the Canary Islands with a full cabin, as there is not a single cabin available. The demand in these days, just as summer begins, has made occupancy reach one hundred percent.

As our readers know, since June 20, the ferry “Volcán de Tinamar” has taken over, which has left Navantia Cádiz newly remodeled and painted with the image of Baleària Canarias. As reported, this vessel makes two weekly rotations, one on weekends directly to Santa Cruz de Tenerife and another during the week that connects with Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.

The farewell of the ferry “Ciudad de Valencia” does not imply cuts in the rolling cargo capacity of the Cádiz-Canary Islands route. On the contrary, at the beginning of July, the new roll-on “Josefina de la Torre” will join, with a capacity of 4,070 linear meters, ensuring maximum service coverage and, in particular, the refrigerated transport of Canarian bananas, a strategic economic and productive sector that the president of Baleària, Adolfo Utor, pays attention to and manages personally.