Dover braces itself for Easter queues – but fears the worst is yet to …
Doug Bannister stands atop the white cliffs of Dover surveying his domain. Below him lorries snake through Europe’s busiest ferry port as smut-belching vessels chug across the misty English Channel. “It’s a slick operation,” says Bannister, the port’s chief executive, finally.
Only it didn’t feel like it last weekend[1], as families flocked to France for the Easter holidays. It was the first stress test of the year for the port — and stressful it was. The delays were so long that some coach parties gave up and turned home. Others played cricket to pass the torpid hours. Have you ever heard anything more English? Cricket and queuing.
The coach trip to France is a rite of passage for young British travellers. “That was the tragic thing about last weekend,” says Bannister, the American tasked with steering the port through Covid and Brexit. “It was awful for the kids — they missed out on ski days and scout trips — and for their anxious parents back home.”
Dover is a non-stop port. It handles around 130 ferry crossings a day each way, Bannister tells me, and more cargo than Felixstowe, which is ten times larger. The port “turns around” most ferries within 45 minutes. “That’s quicker than an A320 at Gatwick, mate,” coos Bannister.
“It’s a slick operation,” Bannister tells Gavin
Credit: Jamie Lorriman for the Telegraph
It’s a “turn up and go” port, too. Many lorries and cars do not book in advance. That poses headaches. Historic traffic data offers reliable forecasting, but Covid has made things hard to predict. Demand to get away is booming.
Then there’s Dover’s juxtaposed port status. This means passengers clear French controls here, rather than in France. It’s the same at Eurostar terminals. When the UK had a soft border with the EU, none of this was a problem. Passengers were waved through when they flashed their passports. No longer. The hard border has brought with it additional checks. French officials now have to inspect passports and stamp them.
“[Processing] freight units before Brexit took zero seconds,” says Bannister, who is at pains to say that he is “not political”. “After Brexit, it’s between 30 seconds and one and a half minutes.”
Imagine what it’s like with a coach full of school children. Bannister can’t put a time on it, but says it’s significantly slowed things down. “Fundamentally, if you have slower processes at the border that’s going to have an impact on flow rates,” he says.
Last weekend, delays were so long that some coach parties gave up and turned home – others played cricket to pass the time
Credit: Jamie Lorriman for the Telegraph
Solutions are in short supply. Extra passport controls have been constructed for French border guards. However, the port’s location between cliffs and sea makes expanding existing infrastructure a challenge (though there are long-term plans to rejig the layout). Nor can we blame the French. “They’ve been working really well and flexibly,” says Bannister.
One short-term solution, announced yesterday, ahead of Easter, is to spread coach parties evenly across the weekend[2]. This means changing bookings. Ostensibly, it amounts to a daily cap on coaches. It’s not a solution that’s popular with coach firms or holidaymakers, but there is a precedent. Eurostar is running trains at 70 per cent capacity to avoid border holdups. Like the Port of Dover, St Pancras is constrained by space.
The fear is, things are going to get worse when the EU introduces biometric security checks[3]. That means fingerprints and photographs[4] will need to be taken, like when you arrive in the US. “If we have to do that, it’s going to be hugely problematic,” admits Bannister.
‘This is the best office in the world,’ says Paul Stokes, vessel traffic service officer
Credit: Jamie Lorriman for the Telegraph
The port is lobbying the UK and French governments to find a solution. But it’s beyond Bannister’s control. “It will bite the other side at ports without juxtaposed controls,” he says.
In the meantime, behind the scenes, the Port of Dover’s unsung heroes work hard to keep things moving. In the navigation centre at the mouth of the port, I meet the team responsible for managing the ferries sailing in and out of Dover.
“This is the best office in the world,” says Paul Stokes, vessel traffic service officer, as the Spirit of France sails by. There’s about the length of a football pitch between us and the ferry. In the background the white cliffs of Dover shine brightly.
It’s like air traffic control in there, but for boats. There are screens everywhere, with radar images and CCTV footage and coordinates and timetables. It gives me a headache.
Ex-mariner Dave Standen at his multi-screen post
Credit: Jamie Lorriman for the Telegraph
“Try looking at it for 12 hours,” says Dave Standen, Paul’s colleague. “After three days of this you want to sit in a dark room.”
Stokes and Standen are both ex-mariners. Traffic, like the sea, is unpredictable. Last weekend was intense, but so are storms. “It’s just dealing with it as it comes in,” says Stokes, stoically.
There’s a similar Dunkirk spirit at port operations, which takes care of the “dry” side of things.
Duty Operations Officer Andrea Hughes spent 12 rainy hours helping passengers last weekend – ‘when I finished I had a large gin’
Credit: Jamie Lorriman for the Telegraph
“Look, it’s Steven Seagal,” says Andrea Hughes, duty operations officer, pouring over CCTV footage. She’s referring to a seagull that’s broken into one of the buildings. “This is the kind of chaos we like.”
Last weekend’s chaos? Not so much. Hughes responded by helping turn Dover’s cruise terminal into a coach park. She was down there for 12 hours in the rain helping passengers. “It was frustrating,” she admits. “When I finished I had a large gin.”
And this weekend? “It’s going to be a challenge,” she says, but they are prepared. Has she any more gin? “Yes, two bottles.”
Are you heading to the Port of Dover this Easter? Please tell us in the comments below.
References
- ^ it didn’t feel like it last weekend (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ spread coach parties evenly across the weekend (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ the EU introduces biometric security checks (www.telegraph.co.uk)
- ^ fingerprints and photographs (www.telegraph.co.uk)