Crossing the channel between Tenerife and Gran Canaria has historically been a matter of travelling through the capitals or taking express routes via the north. The two usual routes force passengers to pass through the major urban hubs or converge at the port of Agaete before disembarking in Santa Cruz. The islands’ transport geography has left the region’s two economic engines on the sidelines: the heavily tourism-dependent southern areas of both islands. The regional government is seeking to close that operational gap.
According to Atlántico Hoy, the draft of the new Canary Islands Sustainable and Intelligent Mobility Strategy (EMSICAN) includes a regular ferry service between Arguineguín and Los Cristianos. The proposal seeks to directly connect the tourist areas of Mogán and San Bartolomé de Tirajana with the Tenerife municipalities of Arona and Adeje, eliminating dozens of kilometres of road travel on each journey.
At present, the maritime corridor between Agaete and Santa Cruz involves a crossing of around 80 minutes. However, the effective travel time for those travelling between the southern population centres is considerably longer. A journey from Maspalomas to Costa Adeje first requires taking the GC-1 motorway north, boarding a ferry, crossing the channel and then completing the journey on Tenerife via the TF-1. The official plan seeks to eliminate that logistical burden through a maritime corridor that can compete with private vehicles and road transport.
The technical challenge at the port of Mogán
The choice of Arguineguín reflects its geographical position and existing port activity. The facility, managed by the public entity Puertos Canarios, has regular passenger traffic to other points along Gran Canaria’s coast, such as Anfi del Mar, Puerto Rico and Puerto de Mogán. Its facilities include a 398-metre berth and an average depth of five metres.
The move to a high-capacity inter-island service requires structural changes. The EMSICAN framework document does not specify the type of vessel needed, the required frequency or the investment required in landside infrastructure. Nor does it set an implementation timetable, placing the initiative within the planning horizon of the coming decades.
The shift from local passenger traffic to ro-pax or high-speed vessels capable of carrying private vehicles and freight will require dredging work and the adaptation of land access routes in a densely populated coastal area.
A commercial precedent
Interest in this south-to-south connection is not entirely new. In May 2025, the shipping company Armas examined the feasibility of introducing a high-speed service between the two ports, with the direct aim of capturing the tourist and commercial traffic that currently congests the islands’ motorways. That private initiative showed that traffic between the tourist areas has a critical volume with its own economic potential.
Including the route in the regional strategic plan gives the idea the status of a public transport policy. With Tenerife’s road network repeatedly reaching capacity and bottlenecks affecting access to Gran Canaria’s capital, the creation of a maritime bypass is emerging as a structural solution. The project opens a broader debate about the model of connectivity in the archipelago. Linking Arguineguín and Los Cristianos would decentralise maritime connections, reshape tourism-sector logistics and alter the historical dominance that the capitals have exercised over maritime transport in the Canary Islands.
The article ¿Un plan para que Baleària se olvide de Agaete? Canarias estudia licitar el sur de Gran Canaria y con Los Cristianos en Tenerife was first published on canarymaritime.com.
