The 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 miles) away, and one of Europe's largest passenger ports, with 14 million travellers, 700,000 trucks, 1.6 million cars and motorcycles and 118,000 buses passing through it each year, raising £15.5 billion a year.

Infrastructure

The Harbour is divided into 2 sections, the Eastern Docks and the Western Docks, about 1km 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 3 ferry services to France operating from the 9 docks and associated departure buildings of the Eastern Docks:

The adjacent freight terminal (with 3 loading cranes) can be used by a ship of up to 180 metres.

Western Docks

The last commercial hovercraft service enters the Western Docks

This 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 train station, Dover Maritime)- it was here that the Unknown Warrior was landed. It ceased to be used for this purpose in the 1970s, and the train 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, but this did not prove a success. Hoverspeed also ran catamaran services until being declared bankrupt in 2005, when both catamaran and hovercraft services ceased. The catamaran service has since 2007 been run by the single ship of SpeedFerries, with up to 5 services daily to Boulogne-sur-Mer.

The Maritime station, with its platforms filled in to create a rooved car park and new buildings added, re-opened as the Dover Cruise Terminal in the 1990s. It can accommodate up to 3 cruise ships at a time.

Dover Marina

In the Western Docks, between the cruise terminal and the former Hoverport is the entrance to a yacht harbour.

Port 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 train station (with a bus service from the station to the port, and with trains to and from London Charing Cross, London Victoria and Ramsgate).

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