Port of Dover
Encyclopedia
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21.1 mi) away, and one of Europe's largest passenger ports, with 14 million travellers, 2.1 million lorries, 2.8 million cars and motorcycles and 86,000 coaches passing through it each year, with an annual turnover of £58.5 million a year.
The port has been owned and operated by the Dover Harbour Board, a statutory corporation
Statutory Corporation
A statutory corporation or public body is a corporation created by statute. While artificial legal personality is almost always the result of statutory intervention, a statutory corporation does not include corporations owned by shareholders whose legal personality derives from being registered...
, since it was formed by Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
in 1606 by James I. Most of the board members are appointees of the Department of Transport.
The port has its own private police force, the Port of Dover Police
Port of Dover Police
The Port of Dover Police is a small non-Home Office police service which provides a 24 hour policing service to the Port of Dover, Kent, England.-Organisation & Role:...
.
The port claims to be the world's busiest passenger port.
Infrastructure
The Harbour is divided into two sections, the Eastern Docks and the Western Docks, about 1 kilometre (0.621372736649807 mi) apart.Eastern Docks
Ferry services' passenger numbers have been adversely affected by the opening of the EurotunnelEurotunnel
Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France. The Company operates the car shuttle services and earns revenue on other trains passing through the tunnel...
service through the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...
in 1994. There are three ferry services to France operating from the nine docks and associated departure buildings of the Eastern Docks:
- P&O FerriesP&O FerriesP&O Ferries is the current name for the amalgamation of a range of ferry services that operated from the United Kingdom to Ireland and Continental Europe...
: 6 ships in service. Up to 29 ferries daily to CalaisCalaisCalais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
. - SeaFranceSeaFranceSeaFrance is a ferry company based in France that operates ferry services between Calais, France, and Dover, England.SeaFrance is 100% owned by the French railways, SNCF....
: 4 ships in service. Up to 20 ferries daily to CalaisCalaisCalais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
. - DFDS SeawaysDFDS SeawaysDFDS Seaways is a large Danish shipping company operating passenger and freight services across Northern Europe. Following the acquisition of Norfolkline in 2010, DFDS restructured its other shipping divisions into the previously passenger only operation of DFDS Seaways.-History:The company has...
: 3 ships in service. Up to 12 ferries daily to Dunkirk.
The adjacent freight terminal (with three loading cranes) can be used by a ship of up to 180 metres (590.6 ft).
Eastern Docks: history
In 1966 well over 600,000 accompanied vehicles travelled through Dover's eastern docks en route to France or Belgium.Western Docks
The Unknown Warrior
The British tomb of The Unknown Warrior holds an unidentified British soldier killed on a European battlefield during the First World War. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, London on 11 November 1920, simultaneously with a similar interrment of a French unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in...
was landed. The railway station closed in 1994. The Western Docks were also used from 1968 to the early 2000s for a cross-channel hovercraft
Mountbatten class hovercraft
The SR.N4 hovercraft was a large passenger and vehicle carrying hovercraft built by the British Hovercraft Corporation . BHC was formed by the merger of Saunders-Roe and Vickers Supermarine in 1966...
service run by Hoverspeed
Hoverspeed
Hoverspeed, formed in 1981 by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd, was a ferry company that operated on the English Channel from 1981 until 2005....
. Hoverspeed also ran catamaran services until being declared bankrupt in 2005. Another catamaran service ran from 2004 until November 2008 run by the single ship of SpeedFerries
SpeedFerries
SpeedFerries was a low cost ferry operator which started in May 2004 and continued in business until November 2008. It operated one route between Dover in England and Boulogne in France...
, SpeedOne, with up to five services daily to Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
. The Hoverport has now been demolished for re-development.
The railway station, with its platforms filled in to create a roofed car park and new buildings added, re-opened as the Dover Cruise Terminal in the 1990s. It can accommodate up to three cruise ships at a time.
Marina
In the north Docks, between the cruise terminal and the former Hoverport is the entrance to a boating harbour.Access
The port is accessible by road from the M20/A20 (leading to FolkestoneFolkestone
Folkestone is the principal town in the Shepway District of Kent, England. Its original site was in a valley in the sea cliffs and it developed through fishing and its closeness to the Continent as a landing place and trading port. The coming of the railways, the building of a ferry port, and its...
) and the M2/A2 (to Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
), and by train from the town's railway station
Dover Priory railway station
Dover Priory railway station is the main station in Dover in Kent, with the other station being Kearsney situated on the outskirts of Dover. . All train services are provided by Southeastern...
(with a bus service from the station to the port, and with trains to and from London St Pancras, London Charing Cross, London Victoria and Ramsgate
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
).
