Ferry operators at the Port of Dover are working to clear the Easter traffic backlog by putting on additional overnight sailings. On Friday night, some passengers had to wait up to 14 hours due to strong winds, a large volume of coaches, and slower processing times at the border control. Doug Bannister, the port’s chief executive, said his team anticipate the backlog will be cleared overnight.
P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways reported disruption to their ferry services late on Friday, with coach passengers particularly badly hit. Many had to wait at the port all night. The port apologised for the “prolonged delays” and said the backlog was being cleared. Mr Bannister said that by midday Sunday, operations should be back to normal.
The port said that border processing times were partly to blame for delays, while some ferry companies said bad weather had disrupted travel. Cars can be boarded much quicker than a coachload of separate passengers and the port said that ferry companies had received 15% more coach bookings than anticipated. The regional prefecture in northern France said that there were “no difficulties that we know of”, but that lots of coaches had arrived at the same time.
The UK government said it was in close contact with ferry operators and authorities. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government needed to “get a grip” of the situation at Dover. Travel correspondent Simon Calder said processing times since leaving the EU had increased sharply, meaning that coach loads of passengers must disembark to have their passports checked, adding to delays.
Ferry operators at the Port of Dover are making efforts to clear the Easter traffic backlog by providing extra sailings overnight. Delays were first reported on Friday night, with some passengers having to wait up to 14 hours due to strong winds, a large volume of coaches, and slower processing times at the border control. Doug Bannister, the port’s chief executive, said his team anticipate the backlog will be cleared overnight.
P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways initially reported disruption to their ferry services late on Friday, with coach passengers particularly badly hit. Many had to wait at the port all night on Friday. The management for the port apologised for the “prolonged delays” and said the backlog was being cleared. Mr Bannister said that by midday Sunday, operations should be back to normal.
The port said that long border processing times were partly to blame for delays, while some ferry companies said bad weather had disrupted travel. Cars can be boarded much quicker than a coachload of separate passengers and the port said that ferry companies had received 15% more coach bookings than anticipated when it began planning four months ago.
The regional prefecture in northern France stated that there were “no difficulties that we know of”, but that lots of coaches had arrived at the same time. The UK government spokesperson said it remained in close contact with ferry operators and authorities. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government needed to “get a grip” of the situation at Dover.
Travel correspondent Simon Calder said processing times since leaving the EU had increased sharply, meaning that coach loads of passengers must disembark to have their passports checked, adding to delays. Ferry operators are laying on additional sailings overnight in an effort to clear the backlog and return operations to normal by midday Sunday.