• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

A-05 El Camino Español

The Army had two second-hand Ro-Ro ships, which for reasons of efficiency for their exploitation and maintenance were integrated into the Navy in February 2000. The Army used frequent transport by road for the transfer of important volumes and quantities of vehicles, material, weapons systems and supplies in containers between the peninsula and the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, the autonomous communities of Ceuta and Melilla. It also uses this route to supply the operations that units develop abroad in Lebanon, Turkey and Mali, among others.

“The Spanish Way” was acquired by the Army to carry out maritime transport missions in support of the Army units based in the archipelagos, Ceuta and Melilla. It also supports contingents deployed in operations abroad. It was based in Cartagena. It is of the Roll on - Roll off type for transporting troops, vehicles and different material, its main characteristics being its great load capacity, maneuverability and habitability for the crew and embarked troops.

A-05 El Camino Español [The Spanish Way] owes its name to the route between Milan and Brussels created by Felipe II that was used the Tercios in the 16th and 17th centuries to access the Netherlands. El Camino Español was used to transport money and Spanish troops to the Flanders War, as an alternative to the dangerous transport by sea through the Canal de la Stain. The Duke of Alba inaugurated the route in 1567, and the last Spanish army to travel it did so in 1633.

The ship was built in the Rio de Janeiro shipyards CCN Maua Shipyard, Niteroi, under the name of Araguary and launched on October 15, 1984. It was later renamed Mercantil Mage and, in 1995, Cyndia. During those years as a merchant ship, it provided its services to different companies and used to carry out Amazonian navigations. The ship was acquired by the Army in 1998 and entered into service in February 2000. Its length measured 93 meters, it had a displacement of 4,560 tons and a load capacity of 1,058 tons. The ship was acquired second-hand in 1998 by the Army for logistical support of its units and was removed on November 15, 2019 from the Official List of Navy Ships.

In September 1999, the AALOG-24 was incorporated with a combined capacity for vehicles and containers and two cranes with a lifting power of 25 tons each. For this, the ship had to be transformed at the Bazán (current Navantia) facilities at its Cartagena shipyard. The reforms affected the propulsion, habitability and especially the cargo space, by adding an intermediate deck for the transport of light vehicles. In this way, the characteristics of the ship were set at a length of 93.50 meters by a beam of 18.20, with a displacement of 5,800 tons, and 1,620 square meters of vehicle cargo spread over three decks: an upper deck for 30 trucks or 60 light vehicles, or 240 TEUs; an intermediate deck for 75 light vehicles; and a main deck for 43 trucks or 20 M-60 tanks. In addition, on the deck there are two cranes with 25 tons of load capacity each.

The ship's base port was established in the Cartagena Arsenal, from where it provided logistical services to the units deployed in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as to the archipelagos of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. Occasionally, El Camino Español has given support to Army units deployed in Bosnia, Kosovo or Lebanon. Its longest navigation took place between Cartagena and the Swedish city of Pitea, covering almost 3,000 nautical miles (about 5,400 kilometers). Its usual area of ??action is limited to the Spanish coastal strip in the Mediterranean, the Alboran Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar, providing services to the Units deployed in Ceuta and Melilla in their transfers to the Peninsula and transport between peninsular and occasionally island ports. On a biannual basis, it participates in CS-SK operations to provide support to units deployed in Bosnia and Kosovo, for which they usually call at the ports of PLOCE (Croatia) and THESSALONIKI (Greece).

The logistics transport ship "El Camino Español" docked at the Beirut dock to carry out loading and unloading operations from June 16 to 17, 2009. “El Camino Español” has made this stopover transporting material for the “Libre Hidalgo VII” Multinational Brigade, stationed at the “Miguel de Cervantes” Spanish base in Lebanon. From June 20 to 22, it docked in Thessaloniki, the logistical support port for the troops deployed in Kosovo.

On July 27, 2019, the ship was immobilized, beginning the process to remove it from service, removal that became effective on November 15, through an act at the La Curra dock in Cartagena, with the presence of the Chief Admiral of the Cartagena Arsenal and Vice Admiral Aniceto Rosique Nieto among other authorities from both the Navy and the Army. After his retirement, only the veteran Martín Posadillo , launched in 1973, remains the sole logistics ship of the Army. Faced with this scenario, the General Directorate of Armament and Material (DGAM) began studying the options to maintain the army's light transport capacity.

On February 11, 2021, it was scheduled to set sail towed by the Sea Alfa bound for Aliaga, Turkey to be scrapped. 6 However, the Turkish scrap company to which it was awarded € 166,000 announced that it had found a buyer for the ship and that it would be rehabilitated for the transport of vehicles and ro-ro cargo.