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Port Of Dover News

06 Nov 2023

DFDS Commits to Battery-electric Vessels on the English Channel

© julien leiv / Adobe Stock

Danish shipping company DFDS announced it has committed to investing in battery-powered vessels to help decarbonize the maritime traffic across the English Channel.Following a meet between French Minister for Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad, Olivier Becht and CEO of DFDS, Torben Carlsen, in October, DFDS said it will invest in the innovation and technology necessary to and deploy a fleet of battery-powered vessels in the English Channel by 2030.“We have…

22 Aug 2022

What Impact Will Strike at Britain's Busiest Container Port Have?

© Rob / Adobe Stock

More than 1,900 workers at Britain's biggest container port, Felixstowe, have begun eight days of strike action that will cause disruption to trade and supply chains.The staff at Felixstowe, on the east coast of England, are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay, becoming the latest workers to strike in Britain as unions demand higher wages for members facing a cost-of-living crisis. read moreBelow is a look at Felixstowe's operations and the possible impact from the strike:How big is the port?About 48% of all containers brought into the UK are transported through the Felixstowe port…

25 Jul 2022

More Long Delays at UK's Port of Dover

© Eddie Cloud / Adobe Stock

Long queues of holidaymakers and lorries built up on Saturday outside the Port of Dover, Britain's main gateway to Europe, and officials said the disruption could be worse than the logjam seen on Friday.Travelers setting out at the start of the British school summer holidays, as well as the usual flow of goods lorries, have faced long delays because of slow border checks.The Kent Resilience Forum, which brings together local councils and emergency services, declared a "major incident"…

22 Apr 2022

ITF Inspectors Denied Access to P&O Ferries in Dover

© Elles Rijsdijk / Adobe Stock

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said its inspectors have been blocked from investigating crew welfare issues on board P&O Ferries’ vessels in the Port of Dover.In March, P&O Ferries terminated about vessel 800 staff to hire cheaper agency workers in a move that has drawn backlash from politicians, workers and the general public.The ITF said Dover Port Police this week refused access to its inspectors dispatched to look into welfare issues raised by replacement crew members, citing failure to give advanced warning for the visit.“As an ITF Inspector in the U.K.

25 May 2021

P&O Ferries and DFDS Ink Space Charter Agreement

(Photo: P&O Ferries)

Two ferry operators on the English Channel on Tuesday announced a deal to make freight space on their Dover-Calais ships available to one another to maintain customer service levels on the route and ensure its continued resilience.Under the space charter agreement between P&O Ferries and DFDS, freight drivers can arrive at either the Port of Dover or Port of Calais and board the next available sailing, irrespective of whether the ferry is operated by either company.David Stretch…

25 Nov 2019

New Engine Controls for DHB Tug Doughty

Image: CMR Group

CMR Group delivered an alarm monitoring and engine control system for use onboard the tug DHB Doughty. Built in 2000, Doughty is part of the fleet of Dover Harbor Board, which administers and maintains the Port of Dover UK, the busiest ferry port in Europe.The engine control system of the two engines of the 19-year-old, 304-gt tug needed to be retro-fitted, and CMR was specified to deliver its E-Pulse system, an engine control system based around a touch-screen local operating…

14 Nov 2019

Dover Port Wins ESPO Award 2019

Port of Dover, the cross-channel port in Kent, south-east England, was awarded the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) Award 2019 in recognition of its successful strategy to reach out to the local community and to directly communicate with the port citizens.Using social media as a new way of communicating and demonstrating a high level of transparency about operational achievements, future strategies and environmental challenges and performance is becoming increasingly important for European ports who can only function and further develop if they receive the license to operate from the local citizens.Chairman of the Jury, Dimitrios Theologitis…

02 Jul 2019

Dover Selects Cambridge Pixel's Radar Tech

Photo courtesy of Cambridge Pixel

Cambridge Pixel, a developer of radar display, tracking and recording sub-systems, has supplied its radar video trackers and display technology to Marico Marine as part of a major investment by the Port of Dover into safety systems at Europe’s busiest ferry port.Engineers at Marico Marine (Southampton, England) needed a low cost, open, softwarebased radar tracker for integration with its new vessel traffic service (VTS) system in Dover.It was important that the tracker worked…

28 Jun 2019

Cruise: Saga Newbuild Arrives at Home Port

Photo credit: Chris Ison

Kent-based Saga sails into its future, as the first of two new boutique cruise ships, Spirit of Discovery, arrived at her home port of Dover for the first time. Sailing past the iconic White Cliffs and into Dover’s recently developed Western Docks, Spirit of Discovery’s British arrival marks the start of a new chapter for cruising in the UK. With HRH The Duchess of Cornwall as her ‘Godmother’, Spirit of Discovery’s Naming Ceremony on the 5th July will mark the start of a significant new era for the Saga Cruise division…

28 May 2019

Spirit of Discovery Completes Ems Conveyance

The new cruise ship for British Saga Cruises, Spirit of Discovery, along with ship building team at Meyer Werft, Germany completed the conveyance from the Papenburg shipyard along the River Ems to the open sea. Spirit of Discovery, the only cruise ship being built for the British market this year, left Papenburg at 9pm, before passing through the River Ems sea lock late last night (Sunday 26th May), marking the official start of her journey towards her home port of Dover, England.Following her departure, Spirit of Discovery was towed along the River Ems, from Papenburg to Emden, passing Friesenbrücke (Weener) and the Jann Berghaus bridge (Leer)…

03 Apr 2019

Port of Dover Prepared for Brexit: Drewry

Alternative capacity could be provided by short-sea container services between the UK and EU to alleviate possible congestion at the Port of Dover post-Brexit.The Port of Dover is the cross-channel port situated in Dover, Kent, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21 miles) away.According to a new study by global shipping consultancy Drewry the Port of Dover had the capacity to cope with moderate Brexit disruption.The earlier study, validated by the Port of Dover, concluded that of the 2.5 million trailers going via Dover, around 20% (i.e. 500k trailers) could possibly shift to another mode of transport.Using this ‘alternative mode’ assumption…

27 Feb 2019

Port Dover Faces Brexit Heat

Britain's Port of Dover has the resilience to cope with moderate disruption arising from Brexit and there is latent short sea capacity to absorb significant overflow at the port in the event of capacity constraints, according to an independent study by global shipping consultancy Drewry.Among the political arguments about Brexit and its consequences, there has been a surprising lack of objective and quantitative analysis of the implications for the future of the vital short sea trade between the UK and the EU, particularly for the key port of Dover, and how traffic might be routed in future if Dover faced capacity constraints.Drewry sought to fill this information gap by carrying out an assessment of the capacity of the port…

21 Nov 2018

Northern French Ports Ready to Ease Congestion from Brexit Fallout

The port of la Havre (CREDIT: Adobestock / © Sergey Novikov

Smaller ports in northern France are ready to absorb more shipping traffic from Britain if congestion builds up due to any fallout from Brexit, a top French official said on Wednesday.The Ports of Normandy Authority (PNA) currently owns and operates Cherbourg and Caen-Ouistreham terminals and will take on operating Dieppe nearby in 2019."We can accept more (traffic) and we would like to accept more if there is congestion on the east side of the UK," Philippe Deiss, managing director of the PNA told Reuters during a trade visit to London.Over 1 million passengers and over 100…

16 Oct 2018

Mechanica Launches Marine Engineering Business

A Seajet fast ferry – Mechanica Marine has established a new relationship with the Greek company (Photo: Mechanica Marine)

Mechanica Utilities Ltd has formed a new company to specialize in supporting the maritime sector in the U.K. and overseas.Having worked nationally in partnership with several marine engineering companies for very many years, Mechanica Utilities has stepped into to fill the void generated by ship repairer Burgess Marine’s recent sale and the vast reduction in its Dover footprint.The newly formed company Mechanica Marine, which acquired and redeveloped a marine engineering purposed 25…

21 Nov 2016

Cargo Ship Being Evacuated off England's Storm-hit Southern Coast

A cargo ship was being evacuated after it started to take on water off the coast of Dover after the biggest storm of the season hit southern England, the Coastguard said on Sunday.   Earlier, the port of Dover said ferry movements had been temporarily suspended because of the "very high winds", which the Met Office said could reach 70-80 miles per hour in exposed coastal locations.   The coastguard could not immediately give any further details. (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Keith Weir)

01 Jun 2016

Port Business: Is Bigger Better?

(Photo: Greg Trauthwein)

Every port is different. But the harbor masters meeting in Vancouver this week are finding they all have much in common. “We all are dealing with issues of efficiency, the environment, and security and how to develop our ports to best accommodate our customers today and in the future,” says Capt. Kevin Richardson, president of the International Harbour Masters’ Association (IHMA) and a retired chief harbor master at the Port of Dover in the U.K. The congress is being hosted by the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s largest port, and the third largest in North America by tonnage.

24 Jan 2016

Port Of Calais Closed As Migrants Storm Ship

The Port of Calais had to be temporarily closed after dozens of refugees and migrants stormed on to a ship in the hope of reaching the UK. About 50 people made their way on to a P&O-operated vessel called Spirit of Britain. British anarchists were among some 35 people under arrest in Calais on Sunday after leading a 'scandalous' invasion of the ferry port by some 500 migrants. Police attended the incident, which was resolved later in the evening and the port reopened. Services to and from Calais had been severely disrupted while it was dealt with. The BBC quoted Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart as saying 50 asylum-seekers had boarded a P&O ferry while it was unloading. It said the police were on the scene.

10 Jul 2014

Dover Sets Freight Vehicles Export Record

A record number of freight vehicles departed on services through the Port of Dover yesterday, reaching numbers not seen since before the recession. The port said 5,337 freight vehicles departed for Calais and Dunkirk from Europe’s busiest ferry port, beating the previous record of 5,322 set in 2008. It was also the third busiest day ever for total numbers, with 10,134 freight vehicles handled. The busiest day was in 2008 when the port handled 10,584 freight vehicles following the Eurotunnel fire in September of that year.

05 Jun 2015

Dozens of Illegal Immigrants Discovered at UK Port

Sixty-eight suspected illegal immigrants, including two pregnant women and 15 children, were discovered hidden in lorries at one of Britain's largest ports, officials said on Friday. The group was found on Thursday night at Harwich International Port in eastern England during a search of four vehicles which had been on a ferry from the Hook of Holland in the Netherlands. The East of England Ambulance Service said seven of the group were taken to hospital suffering from abdominal and chest pains and were feeling faint, although none was said to be in a life-threatening condition. Local media reported two of them were pregnant. They were later released after treatment and all 68 - 35 Afghans, 22 Chinese, 10 Vietnamese and one Russian - were handed over to Border Agency officials.

23 Jun 2015

French Port Strike Brings Travel Chaos

A strike by French ferry workers is causing travel chaos in the south of England and Eurostar services from London are experiencing long delays. Calais strike is over - but motorists still face lengthy delays. Sailings have been resumed following the protests and the Channel Tunnel has reopened after protesting French ferry workers got on to the tracks. All services to and from the UK Port of Dover have been affected by the strike. Workers at MyFerryLink have voted in favour of ending the industrial action and return to work after blockading the Port of Calais, as well as having Eurotunnel services suspended. Traffic jams are mounting on motorway stretches near Dover as lorries destined for Calais wait until service resumes.

17 Sep 2015

Mobile Tech Helps Streamline European Passenger Port

Image: BLIP Systems

The Port of Dover is turning to a raft of futuristic traffic sensors to keep billions of pounds of trade and millions of passengers on the move. Equipment known as BlipTrack, developed by Denmark-based BLIP Systems, is helping controllers at Europe’s busiest ferry port to reduce bottlenecks and improve vehicle movements by predicting potential traffic congestion on Dover’s coast bound A20. The technology, installed at key locations within the port, feeds officers with live data throughout the boarding process…

02 Dec 2014

Unlocking UK's Economic Potential with Port Investments

Tim Waggott

The Port of Dover is delighted that its scheme to enhance junctions on the A20 in Dover has been highlighted as one of the key investment schemes by the Government in unlocking Britain’s economic potential. Tim Waggott, Chief Executive, Port of Dover, said:  “Today’s Government announcement is a clear vote of confidence in how the Port of Dover is investing in the future success of the nation and, according to Transport Secretary, Patrick Mcloughlin, how we are helping to unlock Britain’s economic potential.

22 Jan 2015

EU Backs Dover Strait Sea Connection

Photo courtesy: Ten-T Program

The EU's TEN-T Program will back with over $16.25million the improvement of the sea connection between Dover in The UK and Calais in France. The developments include better traffic management, berth enhancements and a new rail freight connection between Calais and southern France. The project will focus on innovative solutions to adapt and enhance the current transport infrastructure and improve the traffic management across the Strait of Dover. The action will have a positive impact by encouraging modal shift and reducing the carbon footprint of transport…