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Traffic jam in the port of Dover: A small accident is enough and everything comes to a standstill
Photo: Claus Hecking / DER SPIEGEL
In the beginning the machinery still runs smoothly.
The "Spirit of France" docks in the port of Dover, the belly of the ferry opens, a truck convoy snakes out.
For less than four minutes, the front lorries curve along the four-lane harbor exit road, past unmanned customs stations.
Then you are already on the highway.
But suddenly nothing is going further back.
Dozens of 30- and 40-tonne trucks jam behind the scene of the accident with the engine running.
A red and a gray truck are on the penultimate curve of the exit.
They clashed together, bent too closely together.
Nothing happened to the drivers, but sheet metal parts are on the street, the police have to record the damage.
And the column behind it soon backs up in the bellies of three ferries - which according to the plan would have to pick up new trucks for the return journey to France.
To the EU.
Up to 10,000 trucks per day
The Port of Dover is the UK's lifeline.
And the bottleneck in its supply of goods.
Up to 10,000 trucks pass through here on peak days.
Loaded with tomatoes from Spain, ball bearings from Franconia or salmon from Scotland: goods worth around 120 billion pounds (132 billion euros) per annum.
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