Stranded trucks in Dover cross the Channel

A lorry driver entering the Port of Dover on the southeast coast of England, shows his credentials to a member of the British Army on December 25, 2020, as Covid-19 testing of drivers queueing to depart from the ferry terminal to Europe continues. © Niklas Halle'n, AFP.

More than 4,500 lorries, among a huge backlog of trucks stranded for days in the British port of Dover, crossed the Channel on Friday after nearly 1,000 British troops were deployed Christmas Day to step up coronavirus testing. The port remained open despite the Christmas holiday so that ferries, as well as the trains bringing trucks through the Channel Tunnel, could operate -- but only for trips from Britain to France. "Yesterday, we had 1,000 lorries cross over from Dover. As of 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) we had 1,400 lorries from Britain," Benoit Rochet, head of the Calais port operator, told AFP.