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Dover Airport Information

Facilities

Dover Port provides a small range of facilities for leisure travellers including those requiring special assistance.

Leisure Facilities - Dover Port has a small range of shopping and eating facilities. There are also foreign currency exchange facilities, telephones, toilets and trolleys available throughout the Port's passenger buildings.

Special Assistance Facilities - Dover Port's Travel Centre has low level activated doors. P&O Ferries operate a Mobility Bus transfer service for disabled passengers and wheelchair users. For further information on disabled assistance, please contact your ferry operator. Unisex disabled toilets are situated in various passenger areas throughout the Ferry Terminals. They can be found at the Travel Centre and both Passenger Services Buildings - East and West Arrivals Buildings.

Disabled parking bays can be found on the first two floors of the Multi Storey Car Park. Tickets for the car park are issued by machine on entry, parking is paid for at the Pay Stations located in the Arrivals Building before collecting your car. If you have any difficulties with this facility, press the 'help' button and you will be connected directly through to another office for assistance.

If you receive Higher Rate Disability Living Allowance, you may park in the reserved car parking bays in a specially designated car park, which is ideal for wheelchair users. When you first use this car park, you will need to show proof that you qualify for the Higher Rate Allowance at the Pass Office in the Travel Centre. The staff will then issue you with an "R" badge to display on your dashboard that will permit you to enter and use the car park for unlimited subsequent visits. Please note that a pay and display scheme operates at this car park, so you need to have your money available when you arrive.

Induction loops to amplify announcements or conversations for passengers wearing aids are available within the main Ferry Terminal buildings. Just look for the distinctive 'ear' symbols.

Transport

Short and long-stay parking is available to all passengers at the main multi-storey car park at the entrance to the Ferry Terminal. Parking is also available close to the Cruise Terminal. Carparking.com can arrange port parking for Dover Port with our parking partners located less than four miles away from the airport. They operate an efficient and competitively priced Park and Ride service.

The closest rail station to the port is Dover Priory which is a 5 minute taxi ride from the port. Southeastern Trains run services to Dover from London Victoria; Charing Cross and St. Pancras International as well as local destinations. At Dover Priory station there are regular shuttle bus services to the Eastern Docks Ferry Port which leave from the bus stop outside the station entrance every 20 minutes. Shuttle buses leave the Eastern Docks Ferry Port 07.00 - 20.40. Please note there is a small charge for this service.

Stagecoach also operates local bus services between the Ferry Port and the town centre. Regular National Express/Eurolines Coach services travel to Dover from London Victoria Coach Station.

History

Being located on the south-east tip of England and in close proximity to the Continent has given Dover a great importance to cross-Channel travel. The history of today's Dover Port can be traced right back to Roman times. The geography of the surrounding area, formed by the River Dour carving a deep cleft in the hills, has provided small ships that have crossed the narrow Strait of the English Channel with a safe haven.

Julius Caesar referred to Dover as the "Haven between the Hills" in his reports and evidence that the Romans used the port exists to-day in the form of the "Pharos", or lighthouse, on the cliffs on the east side of the valley.

The Dover Harbour Board was given a Royal Charter by King James I in 1606. The present Board was created and incorporated by statute and is, therefore, a statutory body and has no shareholders to answer to.

In the early 19th Century, it was proposed that a haven of refuge for the fleet should be constructed in Dover Bay and, in 1847, the Government commenced the construction of the Admiralty Pier, which was envisaged as the Western Arm of this haven. In 1897, construction commenced on the Eastern Arm, the Southern Breakwater and the extension to the Admiralty Pier. This work, which is generally acknowledged to be one of the greatest feats in port construction of its time, was completed in 1909.

The development of the port throughout the centuries has produced the vast artificial harbour of today, with depths of water up to 10.5 metres and accommodation for shipping up to 300 metres in length. The total area, owned by the Dover Harbour Board, is approximately 1050 acres, of which 700 acres is water.

Since the Second World War, considerable development has taken place at the port to keep pace with the demands from passengers, tourist cars, and roll-on roll-off freight. In 1953, Dover's first two drive-on drive-off ferry berths were opened at the Eastern Docks. Until then cars and even coaches had been craned on and off ferries.

Roll-on, roll-off freight came to Dover in 1965, replacing the previous tedious and often expensive procedure of loading a vehicle at the factory, off-loading into the hold of a ship and repeating the process at the foreign port of call. Initially the Port of Dover handled a few hundred lorries each year. The level of freight handled soon increased and Dover currently handles over 1.8 million lorries a year.

In the summer of 1978 a £12m Hoverport was opened at the Western Docks following the reclamation of 15 acres of land.