More and more trucks coming from english coasts, where they have been stuck since Monday, due to preventive measures against the transmission of new strain of coronavirus, disembarked in Calais on Friday, according to port management which foresees a situation “Completely absorbed” Saturday during the day.
“Yesterday, we recorded traffic of 1,000 heavy goods vehicles from Dover (Great Britain)”, against “1,400 heavy goods vehicles at 6 p.m.” Friday, Benoît Rochet, Deputy Managing Director of the company which operates the ports of Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer, told AFP. He estimated a little earlier that “At this rate, the situation should be completely resolved tomorrow in the day”.
Exceptionally, the port remains open and the ferry companies are working on Christmas Day, taking vehicles only in the Dover-Calais direction.
Many heavy goods vehicles sped directly on the highway once arrived, without creating any slowdowns, noted at midday an AFP correspondent.
On the side of the Channel Tunnel, more than 1,000 trucks passed through the tunnel in both directions on Friday at 5 p.m., two-thirds of which were in the direction England-France, according to the management of the concession company Getlink (Eurotunnel) who exploits it.
Heavy weather shouldn’t slow down traffic
If the maritime prefecture called for vigilance, providing from Saturday noon and until the night of Sunday to Monday gusts of winds reaching 120 km / h on the maritime facade and a sea “Most often heavy (sea state 6) in the English Channel”, the management of the port has no particular concerns, recalling that the ferries “Are very maneuverable boats that can navigate in heavy weather”. “The companies will adapt their services according to the climatic conditions observed”, we added from the same source.
Thousands of drivers found themselves stranded when France, worried about a new strain of the potentially more contagious novel coronavirus identified in the south-east of England, closed its borders to arrivals from the United Kingdom at midnight on Sunday. Including Dover, the main cross-Channel port, and the neighboring tunnel, through which thousands of heavy goods vehicles circulate every day.
If France has allowed traffic to resume Wednesday morning, it requires a negative test, requiring days of work to check the positive or negative status of the Covid.
As of Friday afternoon, more than 10,000 tests had been carried out, including 24 positive, according to the British authorities who sent reinforcements. And more than 4,500 heavy goods vehicles stranded around the port of Dover have been able to leave the UK since Wednesday, UK Transport Minister Grant Shapps said.
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