PORT OF DOVER STILL DELIVERING THE GOODS FOR THE NATION
A port of strategic national importance, Dover is the UK’s most important roll on-roll-o (ro-ro) freight port. Its geographic advantage and the unmatched capacity, crossing speed and sailing frequency it provides as a result, make Dover highly resilient to temporary shocks. This is both in terms of its ability to recover from issues on the link itself, and its ability to step in and provide fast, frequent capacity when other ports are closed. The Port of Dover supports businesses across the nation through the goods brought into and out of the UK 24/7.
VALUE
• £144 billion of trade in goods
• £3 billion saving for British businesses and consumers compared to alternative routes
• £2.7 billion extra cost to divert just 10-20% of Dover’s tra c in order to pay for additional ferries that would operate on longer and slower routes
VOLUME
• 33% of all UK trade with the EU
• 31% of all HGVs transiting UK seaports
• 30% of all ro-ro ferry arrivals to the UK
RESILIENCE
• The high frequency of sailings enables Dover to clear queues 18 times faster than competitor ports
• The frequency of departures from Dover allows UK manufacturers to maintain resilient and e cient supply chains
• If a UK container port is closed, ships can be redirected to northern European ports, and the goods brought into the UK via the Short Straits, which are 20% quicker and cheaper than the next best (ro-ro) route
FUTURE BENEFITS
• Dover will be a vital link in the decarbonisation of the UK supply chain
• The carbon costs of using Dover will decline significantly while it will retain the benefits it o ers businesses and consumers in terms of time, cost and resilience
TO HELP KEEP DELIVERING
We’ve got through Brexit and kept going during Covid, but we need government support:
• To address looming threats to tra c fluidity, such as the EU Entry Exit System
• For new border control infrastructure
• For strategic road infrastructure
- to maximise resilience (A2 dualling)
- to support complementary investments
(Lower Thames Crossing)
- to support improved HGV parking facilities
• To drive net zero through Dover and the UK’s critical just-in-time supply chain