More than 1,000 trucks on Friday arrived at France’s Port of Calais as authorities scrambled to ease a bottleneck in the UK, where thousands of drivers have been stuck for days after France imposed tougher COVID-19 rules.
The port remained open despite the Christmas holiday so that ferries as well as the trains bringing trucks through the Channel Tunnel could operate — but only for trips from Britain to France.
“Yesterday, we had 1,000 lorries cross over from Dover. As of 6pm we had 1,400 lorries from Britain,” said Benoit Rochet, head of the Calais port operator.
Photo: AP
“At this rate, the situation should be completely taken care of by tomorrow,” he said.
Getlink, the Eurotunnel operator, said that more than 1,000 trucks had transited the tunnel in both directions by 5pm, two-thirds of which had traveled from England to France.
Most of the drivers headed straight for the highway, a journalist at the scene said.
Truckers were stranded in southeast England after France on Sunday last week halted all travel from the UK for 48 hours in a bid to prevent a new strain of coronavirus, which experts fear to be more contagious, from reaching its shores.
The move created a massive logjam with up to 10,000 trucks parked along highways, as well as on the runway of Manston International Airport’s airfield, said European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean, who criticized the French government’s decision.
Drivers fumed at having to spend Christmas in their cabs away from their families with only minimal toilet facilities because they were unable to get the COVID-19 tests that must be negative to be allowed into France.
More than 10,000 tests had been carried out by Friday afternoon, of which 24 were positive, British authorities said.
Twenty-five French firefighters were again dispatched to Dover, England, to help carry out tests, after a first team were sent over on Thursday.
French Minister Delegate for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari wrote on Twitter that more than 1,000 Christmas Eve meals had also been sent to stranded drivers, distributed with the help of French Red Cross volunteers.
The British Ministry of Defense said that an additional 800 personnel had been deployed on top of 300 already on site to step up coronavirus tests for drivers and “help clear the backlog of vehicles.”
“There is a need for increased testing as more vehicles continue to arrive every hour,” the ministry wrore on Twitter, adding that the teams would also deliver food and water to drivers waiting to return home.
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