The Port of Dover is the busiest port in the UK. With between 4000 and 5000 pieces of freight travelling through the port every weekday, plus tourist traffic including cars, caravans, and motorbikes, there is certainly a lot happening. At its peak capacity, the Port usually has between two and three ferries berthed or approaching a berth, with another two or three leaving and setting sail for France.
In 2017, extra security checks were implemented at the port meaning that passengers were sometimes kept waiting longer than usual. However, port managers were able to use their experience to minimise disruption by keeping passengers informed, bringing in extra people so that more lanes could be opened, and even delaying ships so that those in the queues would not miss their crossings.
With Brexit an ongoing process, the Port of Dover has had to adapt and change with political events, monitoring changes in rules and regulations, trying to anticipate possible laws to come, and also reacting to the ebb and flow of freight and tourist traffic, which usually varies through the seasons but has been more unpredictable thanks to the political situations in France, the EU as a whole, and the UK.
In 2020, an unprecedented new situation impacted the Port of Dover in ways not seen since the Second World War. A coronavirus causing the disease Covid-19 placed huge limitations on international travel, effectively ceasing tourist traffic between the UK and continental Europe. With the travel industry in hibernation, the Port focussed on freight operations, enabling the shipping of vital food and medicines into UK markets.
This film was filmed from the White Cliffs of Dover, on the 24th March 2020, just as the UK went into a full lockdown to prevent further spread of Covid-19. At this point, ferry operators P&O Ferries and DFDS where beginning to alter schedules to reflect decreased tourist traffic and to better meet the freight schedules of lorries travelling between England and France. As a result of these schedule changes, the volume of ships entering and leaving the port had been decreased to one or two and hour, leaving the Port of Dover the quietest it has been in the 21st century.
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