Feature, Freight News, Sea

EU pumps millions into Dover-Calais route

[ September 11, 2015   //   Chris ]

The European Commission has announced a €143million (£104million) cash injection to develop ferry services on both sides of the Channel as part of the BRIDGE (Building the Resilience of International and Dependent Gateways in Europe) project, co-funded by the European Union under the Motorways of the Sea priority.
In the UK, the investment will be ploughed into the Dover Western Docks Revival project, to improve the efficiency of the ferry terminal and develop a logistics hub within the port.
 In France, the cash will be used to bring forward the Calais Port 2015 scheme to build a new harbour, terminal and berths to accommodate the bigger ferries and provide capacity for future growth.
The two ports are at either end of the only identified core seaway connecting the UK with the rest of mainland Europe on the Trans-European Transport Network.
Freight traffic through Dover and Calais has increased by 20% in the past two years and is expected to rise by a further 40% by 2030.
The latest award comes on top of an earlier EU grant of €14million (£10.2million) in 2014.
Dover’s chief executive Tim Waggott, said: “This funding shows how hard we are working on a number of levels to bring investment into Dover and to address the challenges of a growing EU trade route on our community. It also reflects the importance to the UK, France and Europe of the Dover Western Docks Revival for both national and European economies. Both Dover and Calais will use this money to ensure traffic passes through our ports smoothly and efficiently both now and in the future.”
Motorways of the Sea’s European coordinator, Brian Simpson, European coordinator, said: “I am delighted the Motorways of the Seas project is contributing towards the regeneration of Dover Western Docks. I think it will bring about a new chance for Dover and also enable the port to go into the next decade confident that business will grow and that it will keep on being the success story it has been so far.”

Pictured: Brian Simpson – European coordinator, Motorways of the Sea (left) with Dover’s head of deevelopment projects, Rikard Bergstrom

Tags: Calais, dover, Motorways of the Sea