Delays continue to plague Port of Dover over bank holiday weekend

Long delays caused coach operators to miss their scheduled ferries at the Port of Dover over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend.

One operator claimed it took over eight hours to be processed through the port, which has recently changed procedures to divert coaches through a separate processing area within the ferry terminal.

Despite ferry operators co-operating to accommodate coaches on next available crossings, the delays continue to cause frustration due to their impact on drivers’ hours planning and scheduling.

‘Sheer volume of traffic’ caused delays

Johnsons Coaches of Henley-in-Arden sent two coaches across the channel en route to Lloret de Mar on 24-25 May. General Manager Kyran Flynn reveals it took both over eight hours to travel from Folkestone Services Stop 24 in Dover, through the port and onto the ferry, which left only 10 hours in their schedule to reach Lloret by the time the vehicles alighted in Calais.

The delays, which have been blamed on sheer volume of traffic during the holiday weekend, come despite assurances from the port authorities that coach processing times would be shortened after long delays experienced during peak periods in 2023.

“It is clearly an issue that hasn’t been sorted,” says Mr Flynn. “And this needs more support from government. European tourism and travel is on the increase and I can envisage our coaches going over the water year-on-year as time goes on. At the moment, this is putting us off, because of the significant operational issues trying to get there.

“Going over the water even at the best of times has risk to it, but if the situation at Dover doesn’t improve, there will come a point where even fewer operators will want to risk travelling. I know of a significant amount that have already decided against it.”

Parrys International Travel sent three coaches across the Channel on Saturday 25 May, with none of them making it to their scheduled ferry on time.

Mr Parry blames both high volume of traffic and the continuing diversion of coaches from Eurotunnel, and notes that the issues rear their head primarily at peak times, which he suggests is catching the port unawares. He criticises the new procedure at Dover where coaches are diverted through a separate processing area in Western Docks as causing unnecessary delays to coaches that have already processed passports before reaching the terminal.

“They have decided that we should divert to the boatyard, so we lose our slot in the queue to get into the port. We travel with DFDS, and we scan every passenger’s passport before we arrive at the port. Yet the port authorities give us a piece of paper and a number, where, having lost our place in the queue, we must then rejoin and wait again, inevitably causing us to miss our ship.

“Regardless of what they say, it’s a waste of time and delays are so bad that we miss ships virtually every week. Nobody considers how far that coach has to go after being processed, and we have to look at the problem of drivers’ hours. No-one at the port is tuned in to the requirements of what coach tourism is needing.”

‘Traffic did not adhere to plans’ according to Port of Dover

A spokesperson for the Port of Dover said it had worked closely with Kent and Medway Resilience Forum to put suitable traffic management plans in place ahead of the peak period, but that it “became aware that there was a high amount of non-port traffic in the area along with some port-bound traffic that did not adhere to the plans in place”. This, they say, compounded local congestion. Traffic flow had reportedly improved by Sunday.

“Following on from the situation at Easter 2023, which resulted in severe coach delays, the coach process needed to be revised in order to minimise any future risks,” the spokesperson adds. “We know there is a strong reliance on Dover and so the coach processing operation was completely redesigned, introducing the boatyard area at the Western Docks, which has subsequently worked extremely effectively during a number of key getaway periods, as endorsed by the coach industry itself.

“With the delays that some coaches experienced last Saturday, it is evident that we must continue to review and refine these plans with our partners, the hours in which the boatyard is in operation and the traffic management plans that are in place to support the coaches re-joining the traffic heading to the ferry terminal. Plans are being actively reviewed with our partners and there are multi-agency meetings taking place as we speak on how processes can be further improved.”

Mr Parry, noting the quicker per-passenger processing times of coaches than the equivalent number of cars, has suggested that a dedicated coach lane would solve the problems, particularly for those operators travelling with ferry companies that have processed passports before arriving at the port.

“There is a coach lane that takes you through entering the port, but you can’t get to it because you have to go through the boatyard. The port knows every coach and what ship it’s booked on. So if we’re on a processed system such as with DFDS when everything is done beforehand, and all we need to do is go through passport control, why do we need to go through the boatyard to get a number? It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Confidence still weak for EES implementation

Further concern has been raised about the implementation of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) in the fall. Both Johnsons and Parrys anticipate more delays and hope for planning and communication from the port on how delays will be overcome, with Johnsons warning that delays will impact rates, which may turn customers towards air travel over coaches.

Anthony Marett, Managing Director at Maretts Chariots, has also voiced little confidence about the changes in processing at Dover and fears that the coach industry is “doomed” if the port adopts a similar process to security entry as the USA, where he recalls it took over an hour to manually fingerprint a group excursion to Florida in 2018. He reveals he plans to send some coaches abroad this year but had consciously avoided it in 2023 due to Brexit and COVID-19.

Mr Marett hopes for a Japan-style electronic fingerprint scan, where processing time is roughly 20 seconds per person. “If both the UK and French borders have the latter system in place, we should be OK,” he says. “But I have lots of concerns about the implementation of EES later this year. I am not going to take any coaches abroad until I see what happens, just as I did during COVID-19.”

As for further contingency plans to ease future problems with traffic flow at the port, the Port of Dover spokesperson adds: “All coach traffic is booked with the ferry operators and so we should always have a clear picture of what traffic is anticipated and when. Ongoing conversations are happening with all stakeholders involved in the planning and execution of traffic management plans and port operations to review the need for further contingency planning.  Any future changes will be communicated appropriately.”