After coaches waiting to board ferries were held for approximately seven hours, the Port of Dover declared a critical incident.

P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways both reported ferry and coach service delays on Friday evening due to the massive holiday rush.

It attributed long wait times and queues to bad weather and delays at French border controls.

DFDS announced on Twitter shortly after 9 p.m. on Friday that the wait time for coaches is approximately seven hours from arrival at the port.

P&O Ferries tweeted that it was providing refreshments for coach passengers waiting at the cruise terminal and that it was working to get food and drink to passengers waiting in the buffer zone at the port’s entrance.

The port attributed the high volume of coach traffic to the Easter holidays.

“The Port of Dover is deeply frustrated by last night’s and this morning’s situation, particularly on behalf of all the ferry operators’ coach passengers who have had to endure such a long wait at the port,” a spokesperson said.

While goods and car traffic were processed steadily despite additional difficult weather conditions and high seasonal volumes, coach traffic experienced significant delays due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume.”

“Despite extensive pre-planning with our ferry operators, border agency partners, and the Kent resilience forum, as well as the success of similar plans for processing large numbers of coaches during the most recent half-term period, the additional coach bookings taken by ferry operators for Easter have impacted port operations.”

We offer our sincere apologies for the prolonged delays that people have endured and continue to work with all of our partners to get all passengers on their way as soon as possible,” the port said, adding, “We offer our sincere apologies for the prolonged delays that people have endured.

DFDS Seaways and P&O Ferries also announced delays, citing bad weather as a contributing factor.

“The queues at Dover today have been caused by bad weather causing delays to sailings, combined with high volumes of traffic, particularly coach groups,” said a DFDS Seaways spokesperson.

DFDS is working to keep passengers informed via its website and social media channels, and once passengers have checked in, they are transported on the next available sailing.

“It has also collaborated with coach operators to expedite the check-in process for coach passengers.”

According to P&O Ferries Updates, the delay for coaches is due to “the time it takes to process each vehicle at French border controls.”

“We apologise for the delays and have added an extra sailing this evening to help clear the backlog,” said the operator.

At 11.12 a.m. on Saturday, DFDS stated that transit times from Stop 24 to the Port of Dover are approximately two to three hours, with a buffer zone wait time of two hours.