A new agreement between officials of the ports of Calais, Dover, Tanger-Med and Algeciras Bay has begun after they met at Dover Port recently, aimed at the sharing of information on many topics to enhance the performance of each port.
The new agreement was signed in June and will result in the ports working closely over the next three years. The meeting in Dover was the result of several visits that have taken place to member ports giving officials knowledge of the workings of other ports.
Commenting on the member ports was Bob Goldfield, the Chief Executive of the Port of Dover who said; "The similarities between the Dover-Calais and Tanger-Algeciras routes are remarkable, both offer short sea crossings across busy straits and provide strategically important links for trade.”
The Dover meeting was preceeded by a meeting in Calais where members discussed the problems of illegal immigration. As a result of this meeting an agreement was reached and signed that will see Port of Calais staff train Tanger-Med staff in security procedures.
The Dover meeting looked at ferry operations with the Port of Tanger-Med now including ro-ro operations with Algeciras. Those members of the agreement that are operating on the Gibraltar Straits will also be looking to learn from the agreement how Dover Straits high capacity traffic processing is achieved.