Re #604:
I don't actually see that much traffic waiting to embark in the photo, Paul. The line in the foreground are drop trailers which have a park at the end of the reclaim. The rest will be swallowed up in the ship you point out as off to the right of the photo which will almost certainly be one of the Spirits, which berth on ED9, and can take 180 trucks and umpteen cars. See first photo.
There are times of the day when the port is virtually empty and then others when the different services coincide and there can be three ferries manoeuvring simultaneously inside the port. The photo above and the next two were taken recently when two ferries were approaching the Eastern Entrance and we chose to depart via the Western Entrance rather than wait for them to enter and manoeuvre. The first photo is a chocbox pic of the seafront and the second shows the detached breakwater. The Calais Seaways can be seen entering, with a P&O ferry following out of shot, the reason for our departure by Western.
Regarding the reference to DHB welcoming the addition to the port of MyFerryLink to give extra capacity. This seems a bit odd as the demise of SeaFrance removed the excess capacity which was plaguing the ferry companies and since then DFDS have put two ferries on the Calais run and now the SeaFrance ships are back again under the MFL banner. All this at a time when the figures for 2012 show that freight, cars, coaches and passenger figures had all declined. There was however a record breaking increase in pay and pension entitlement for the departing Bob Goldfield.
Have just received some additional pics of the tall ships departing Dunkerque. Nigel Thornton from Dover Ferry Photos has kindly forwarded them to me with permission to put them on the forum, I was standing beside him when he took the ones of the exquisite Belem below.
These are Nigel's photos of the magnificent Dar Mlodziezy departing.
Here is a photo of Dar Mlodziezy in Dover in 2010, together with HMS Kent. The police RIB in the foreground is apparently due to be retired and the police will ride on the harbour launches instead.
Calais Opale Bus company has just introduced a tourist shuttle vessel named the Calais Majest'In. The design is based on tramway vehicles and the intention is to carry passengers on the Calais waterways between the Citadel and the Coulogne bridge.
http://shipbuildingtribune.com/2013/06/05/alu-marines-new-futuristic-passenger-boat-floats/