Hi everyone. I've seen lots on the news about the Kent Carpark - has anyone sailed out of Portsmouth in the last week or so? What has the situation been like there?
We're sailing from there in a week's time and had a text from CAMC warning us to turn up 3 hours before our crossing! Seems a little excessive but I wonder if Portsmouth has seen queues too.
TC
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Portsmouth International Port has not been hit by any disruption as sailing times and border checks are different to Dover, according to Ian Diaper, Portsmouth International Port’s head of operations.
The port boss said: ‘Fortunately we have not faced any disruption at the port, with passengers heading off on their holidays and freight traveling through the port as we would normally expect for the summer season.
‘We do not have juxtaposed controls like they do in Dover, (where) French authorities undertake border control checks in the UK before boarding rather than on arrival. This means they are feeling the impact of checks at the port itself, as opposed to it happening at the destination country.
‘Portsmouth has a longer stretch between sailings and a variety of destinations to France and Spain, which means more time on the other side to process passengers and also spreads the volume across a greater area.’
The port retains plans to ‘manage traffic flows’ in the event of any heavy congestion around the site, according to the head of operations.
He said: ‘We do not expect to face the same issues as Dover as the operation at our port is completely different.
‘Customs checks have been the biggest change, but this has been in place since the beginning of the year.’
------------- 74,going on 25
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder
We did the overnight PO-Caen crossing on 29th June, which whilst not impacted by the school holiday rush did coincide with high demand for the Le Mans Classic motor race, with ferry pretty full, and we had no difficulties UK side.
I will say that it took us 1.5 hours once off ferry in France to get through the French immigration checks! Could see no obvious reasons for delays, but it was painfully slow going! On our return trip to UK, with a similarly if not busier ferry, UK checks took about 20 mins to clear! It does make a bit of a difference where you end up in the queues where you are located on the ferry, if you're a high vehicle (Caravan, MH etc.) likely you are on a lower deck and first off ferry, whereas we were an ordinary car and on the last to offload mezzanine deck, so at the back of the queues.
Quote: Originally posted by thechief on 26/7/2022
Hi everyone. I've seen lots on the news about the Kent Carpark - has anyone sailed out of Portsmouth in the last week or so? What has the situation been like there?
We're sailing from there in a week's time and had a text from CAMC warning us to turn up 3 hours before our crossing! Seems a little excessive but I wonder if Portsmouth has seen queues too.
TC
We got the same text from CMC and we are going from Liverpool to Belfast! I think it was just a blanket text sent to anyone with a ferry booking, no matter the route.
------------- Pixie
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We came over last night, Portsmouth-Caen. Business as usual in Portsmouth, nothing different to when we crossed last with them in 2019 apart from we were asked if we were vaccinated, said yes & were told it would be checked in France. This morning, as OP said was slow going through passport control. We felt we did ok, not first off but through in about 30 mins. Passports stamped but no mention of vaccination so off we went & now sat at a very pleasant Aire at Solignac, just south of Limoges
Thanks for the replies everyone. It sounds as if Portsmouth is running ok and there may be a delay French side. Will be relieved when we’ve crossed and put that part of the journey behind us.
Straight through Portsmouth last Friday onto Galicia to Santander. No covid vax check, virtually no masks on board, and straight through Spanish border with just passport stamps. Off ship and in the road in less than 10 mins. Sod the French from now on, they’ve lost our custom and hopefully a good few others.
No probs last night or this morning. We were 8th off the ship and through passport control with no issues and super quick. Coming home via tunnel so hoping it’s as smooth!
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Topic: Sailing out of Portsmouth
via mobile 27/7/2022 at 8:34pm
