Photo : Dunkirk Port Authority.
The Ferry Terminal is situated about 20 km from the centre of Dunkirk in the Western Port. Three ships operated by the Norfolk Line offer a two-hour service to Dover. This line, which opened in March 2002, mainly carries freight but also has a full passenger service.
With this new service Dunkirk has once again taken up its traditional rôle, one that had ceased in the 1990s when cross-channel traffic was concentrated on Calais, Europe's premier passenger port, and after the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994.
There had been regular links with England since 1926 when A.L.A. started its service but the port of Dunkirk was particularly known for its ferryboat service. Unique in France when it was launched in 1936, it allowed goods and passengers to embark directly, without transhipping; the Paris-London Night Train launched on 12 October 1936 being one example.
Travellers, known as 'Sleepers', could dine in the restaurant car after they left the Gare du Nord at 21.45 and then retire into the comfortable quarters provided by the Wagons-Lits and wake up round about 9 o'clock, at breakfast time at Victoria Station, in the heart of London.
This direct service, greatly prized by businessmen, ceased in 1980.
Poster: Port Museum Collection
The Dunkirk Harbour station in 1924.
Postcard. Port Museum Collection
Engraving by Allan Walker.
Port Museum Collection.
Poster after Albert Brenet.
Port Museum Collection.
During the ’80s and until 1996 and 1997 respectively, two ferry companies crossed the channel from Dunkirk: Sealink with the train ferry to Dover and the Sally Line, which ran car-ferries into Ramsgate.
Dance floor aboard the ferry-boat Saint-Germain.
Photo, round 1955. Port Museum Collection.