The ferries, loaded with trucks, arrive at the port of Calais in France on Wednesday December 22, 2020. -
Michel Spingler / AP / SIPA
Traffic to the UK reopened overnight.
For the first time since Sunday, vehicles with passengers disembarked at the port of Calais from Dover overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday.
It was 3:30 am when a van left the ferry “Côtes des Flandres” of the DFDS company, the first boat to leave after midnight (French time) from Dover, in which were also a few unaccompanied trailers.
From a port source, around ten passenger vehicles have also disembarked from the “Spirit of France” of the P & O company, which arrived at 4 am in Calais.
Green light for some UK returns
The traffic should not start to increase in the direction of the returns until late morning, the port management told AFP on Tuesday evening.
In the early evening Tuesday, France had given the green light to certain returns from the United Kingdom, on condition of presenting a negative test of less than 72 hours for Covid and its variant which has spread across the Channel, a situation having led several countries including France to suspend since Sunday midnight the movement of people from the United Kingdom.
This blockage had amplified the embolism around the port of Dover, where some 3,000 heavy goods vehicles are crammed.
Many French transport companies serving England had therefore decided to suspend their delivery.
But during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, many trucks boarded the "Côtes des Flandres".
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