Dover: DFDS warns of further ferry delays ahead of 'peak' weekend

The ferry company DFDS is reporting delays on its services from Dover to Calais, and is not accepting P&O customers.

It comes after a week of major travel disruption in Kent due to cross-Channel issues including P&O suspending its services and bad weather.

DFDS director of capacity Chris Parker said it was "running the ferries as fast as we can".

There are also concerns over traffic building up heading to Eurotunnel.

The Kent Resilience Forum say a "perfect storm" of problems are responsible for the "worst traffic problems near Dover since 2020".

Eurotunnel's John Keefe told BBC Radio Kent that the combination of a lack of ferry capacity and the Easter getaway had caused "a sort of tsunami of traffic all at one time".

He said: "We're running at 25-30% above our capacity. The level of traffic that's diverted from those ferries that are out of service is huge. While you can cope with that for short periods of time, you can't sustain it."

Meanwhile, Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) urged residents to avoid using the M20 and A20 if they can this weekend as the authority predicts travel problems will worsen.

In a statement, MBC chief executive Alison Broom urged: "Please think about if you really need to make that journey, as if you don't you will be avoiding what could be potentially long delays and helping to keep our roads clear for essential traffic including the emergency services."

DFDS currently reports delays of 30 minutes on its Dover to Calais route, down from two-hour delays earlier on Friday.

The firm has more than 40,000 passengers booked on its services from Dover this weekend, a 50% increase on last weekend.

Mr Parker said: "We're running the ferries as fast as we can. We've added on extra sailings this weekend and we've increased the passenger capacity as well, so we're trying to be part of the solution here."

The firm had been accommodating P&O customers, left without transport when the firm sacked 800 staff and cancelled its services in March.

It will not be taking these passengers over the "peak weekend", but will continue to do so again from Monday.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Parker said: "We cannot take a full load of our own passengers and then have more passengers from P&O. We simply don't have the capacity.

"We took the decision we would be better off to focus on our own passengers, and not disappoint P&O passengers arriving at the port."

All six DFDS ships are running on Friday at maximum capacity, with 54 sailings across the Channel.

Mr Parker urged people to make advanced bookings and not simply "turn up at the port".

There is currently no delay on the Dunkirk route and traffic is free-flowing through the town of Dover, but it continues to be held up on the motorway approaching the port.

A 23-mile (37km) stretch of the M20 southbound remains closed as part of Operation Brock, a system which allows lorries heading to Dover to use one side of the motorway, while all other traffic is restricted to a contraflow system on the opposite side.

Freight is queuing on the southbound carriageway between junction eight (Maidstone) and eleven (Westernhanger/Hythe).

East Kent Highways said the system is holding 4,500 lorries, when it "normally has capacity for around 2,000".

Lorry driver John Brown told BBC South East Today he queued on the M20 for almost nine hours overnight before he was able to come off the motorway to be processed at a Folkestone customs facility.

Mr Brown, who travels with his dog, Darla, said: "To be honest, it's absolutely disgraceful. I don't understand how they can get away with this - no facilities whatsoever. There's plenty of drivers out having to go to the toilet by the side of the road."

"I moved 100 feet (30m) every 40 minutes. By the end of it last night I was three hours over my 15 hours. There's nowhere to park obviously, it's a motorway. I couldn't even take her [Darla] out for the toilet."

Tony Price from the AA advised all travellers to prepare well before travelling and said that while Operation Brock "is working to a degree", a different system is needed to help drivers and local residents.

"There needs to be a better stacking system for when this kind of thing does happen. There needs to be a holding area bigger than the current holding area."

It follows comments from Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins who said the former Manston Airport site ought to be considered as a holding site for lorries again.

The Road Haulage Association also called for "decisive action" to create a permanent "contingency site" to hold lorries in future.

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