The History of Dover Ferry Port

The origins of Dover Ferry Port can be traced right back to Roman times.

Dover is ideally situated on the south-east tip of England and in close proximity to the Continent. It has always been of importance to cross-Channel traffic. The Commentaries of Julius Caesar mention the "Haven between the Hills" and other evidence shows that the Romans used the port.

Throughout history, Royalty has taken a keen interest in the Port of Dover. Richard Coeur de Lion departed from Dover on the Third Crusade and in 1422 Henry V was brought back through Dover after his death in France.

King James I awarded Dover Harbour Board it's Royal Charter in 1606 placing the Lord Warden and his "Board" in charge of running the port.

At the beginning of the 19th Century, it was proposed that a Naval Ship should be based at Dover and, in 1847, the Government commenced the construction of the Admiralty Pier.

The construction of the Dover Ferry harbour was taken a step further in 1897, when construction commenced on the Eastern Arm, the Southern Breakwater and the extension to the Admiralty Pier. This work, which is generally acknowledged to be one of the greatest feats in port construction of its time, was completed in 1909.

The modern-day Dover Port has depths of water up to 10.5 metres and can accommodate ships up to 300 metres in length. Dover Port covers a total area of 1050 acres, of which 700 are water.

Since the last War, considerable development has taken place at Dover Port to keep pace with the demands of passengers, tourist cars, and roll-on roll-off freight. In the summer of 1978 a £12m Hoverport was opened at the Western Docks following the reclamation of 15 acres of land.

In 1953, Dover's first two drive-on drive-off ferry berths were opened at the Eastern Docks. Until then cars and even coaches had been craned on and off ferries. In the first year it was anticipated that they would handle about 10,000 vehicles per year - in fact, 100,000 movements of cars, coaches and motorcycles materialised.

Within a few years of the opening of the new drive-on, drive-off facilities, it quickly became apparent that the dramatic increase in car and coach traffic through Dover would soon swamp available land space. In the mid 1960s further land was reclaimed at the Eastern Docks.

Roll-on, roll-off freight came to Dover in 1965, replacing the tedious and often expensive procedure of loading a vehicle at the factory, off-loading into the hold of a ship and repeating the process at the foreign port of call. In the first year the Port of Dover handled only a few hundred lorries. This quickly grew to Dover's current volume of over 1.8 million lorries a year.


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