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British holidaymakers heading for European summer breaks, could face the return to trade disruption, the head of Britain's biggest ferry port said, calling on the UK government to urgently reconsider funding to redevelop Dover to prevent long-term damage.

The Port of Dover is a hugely important port for Irish exports (see related story) and imports into the continent, despite the opening of direct sea routes to France.

Britain's passage out of the EU was eased by a lack of tourist traffic to France during the Covid-19 pandemic, enabling port staff to process the extra paperwork now required for trucks to access Europe and keep goods moving.

But the UK government dropped a travel quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated cirizens this week, potentially increasing the number of vehicles that could descend on the port over the summer holiday months.

A pre-Brexit trade rush led to 32km queues, but Doug Bannister, CEO of the Port of Dover, told Reuters the site had so far managed the switch to customs checks well, after Britain left the EU trade bloc at the end of 2020.

 More from the Irish Examiner. 

Published in Ferry

About Match Racing

A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.

In yacht racing, it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consisting of 2, 3 or 4 boats compete together in a team race, with their results being combined.

A match race consists of two identical boats racing against each other. With effective boat handling and clever use of wind and currents, a trailing boat can escape the grasp of the leader and pass. The leader uses blocking techniques to hold the other boat back. This one-on-one duel is a game of strategy and tactics.

About the World Match Racing Tour

Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The WMRT is awarded ‘Special Event’ status by the sport’s world governing body – World Sailing – and the winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion. Previous champions include Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Radich (DEN), Phil Robertson (NZL) and Ian Williams (GBR). Since 2000, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD23million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors