The volume of traffic that travels during the start of the holidays from Dover to Calais has reached a peak that the French border controls couldn't control promptly because of a personnel shortage and Brexit, resulting in queues of up to 5 hours for tourists who want to travel to France from the UK.
Update 29-7-2022: This weekend, there are again long traffic jams on the ferries to France. The hashtag #doverchaos speaks for itself. But what alternatives are there? Postponing your trip is a realistic alternative, but you can also rebook and try to travel via the ports of Portsmouth or Plymouth to avoid the biggest crowds.
Below is an overview of the alternative crossings you can consider when travelling by ferry from the UK to France.
How do the ferry companies in Dover deal with this?
It's not the first problem they have dealt with in the last few years, so the ferry companies will probably deal with this in a good way.
DFDS about the recent Dover Calais congestion
This means that you can safely assume you can hop on a ferry quite fast as soon as you pass the border control. Also, DFDS has many daily sailings from Dover to Calais.
Also, P&O Ferries has a solution:
Also, with P&O Ferries, you can leave on the first available sailing.
Irish ferries have the same rules:
Are there alternatives?
There are. You can drive towards Newhaven (the best alternative) or Portsmouth, as you can see on our map, with all routes leading from the UK to France. These routes, however, are a bit more expensive and longer. However, here, you will find NO traffic congestion whatsoever.
Portsmouth Alternative
Newhaven Dieppe Alternative:
You can see if there are still tickets available from Newhaven to Dieppe here. This trip takes about 4 hours and has pricing similar to the Dover – Calais options. The connection is operated by DFDS.
Important: Travel with enough water and food
If you decide to travel to Dover anyway, Be sure to bring enough food, entertainment, and water with you. There are not many options for buying food and drinks while travelling to Dover.
Update from the port of Dover:
All operators on the connection from Dover to Calais have said that you will be able to travel by ferry on the next available sailing when you reach the harbour. Even if you miss your timetable, you can travel on the next one.
Make sure you have all your documents ready before the passport control. This way, everything goes as smoothly as possible. However, choosing another ferry crossing and rebooking could help avoid losing precious time. We recommend travelling via either Newhaven or Portsmouth to France to avoid long queues.
As we've explained on our website many times, you can also travel by Newhaven Dieppe or take the ferry from Brittany Ferries departing from Portsmouth. There are no known delays in the other harbours when travelling from the UK to France.
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