- Port of Dover
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Port of Dover 
Location Country United Kingdom Location Dover, Kent, England Details Opened 1606 Operated by Dover Harbour Board Owned by Dover Harbour Board Available berths 9 Piers 2 Statistics Passenger traffic 14, 000, 000 Website www.doverport.co.uk 
The Port of Dover, with the Eastern Docks in the foreground and the Western Docks in the distance.
P&O in DoverThe Port of Dover is the cross-channel port situated in Dover, south-east England. It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21 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, since it was formed by Royal Charter 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.
The port claims to be the world's busiest passenger port.[1]
Contents
History
Infrastructure
The Harbour is divided into two sections, the Eastern Docks and the Western Docks, about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) apart.
Eastern Docks
Ferry services' passenger numbers have been adversely affected by the opening of the Eurotunnel service through the Channel Tunnel in 1994. There are three ferry services to France operating from the nine docks and associated departure buildings of the Eastern Docks:
- P&O Ferries: 6 ships in service. Up to 29 ferries daily to Calais.
- SeaFrance: 4 ships in service. Up to 20 ferries daily to Calais.
- DFDS Seaways: 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 ft).
Eastern Docks: history
In 1966 well over 600,000 accompanied vehicles travelled through Dover's eastern docks en route to France or Belgium.[2]
Western Docks
The last commercial hovercraft service enters the Western Docks
Container Vessel unloading at Dover PortThis part of the Port is formed by the western arm of the harbour, Admiralty Pier, and its associated port facilities. It was initially used as a terminal for the Golden Arrow and other cross-channel train services (with its own railway station, Dover Marine, later renamed Dover Western Docks) – it was here that the Unknown Warrior 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 service run by Hoverspeed. 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, SpeedOne, with up to five services daily to Boulogne-sur-Mer. 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 Folkestone) and the M2/A2 (to Canterbury), and by train from the town's railway station (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).
Harbour wallReferences
- ^ "A Dover Study - Dover Town Council". Dovertown.co.uk. http://www.dovertown.co.uk/article/a_dover_study.aspx. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- ^ "Cutting out the strain". Milestones, the journal of the IAM 22nd year of publication: pages 30–32. Autumn 1967.
External links
Categories:- Port of Dover, Kent
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