The Port of Poole is a cross channel port on Poole Harbour in Poole, Dorset, South West England. [1] Along with Weymouth Harbour, Poole has the other major Channel Port in Dorset. [2]
In World War II, the port was used in the Normandy landings. [3]
In 2017, a D-Day veteran and the last known Mark 4 landing craft tank, LCT 728 , was rediscovered rotting in Poole Harbour at the Port alongside another unknown Mark 3, possibly LCT(4) 510 . [4] They were used as floating barges in the 1950s. [5] [6]
In November 2020, the Port set up a flu vaccination service [7] and also received £86,000 for the Brexit transition period. [8]
In December 2020, it was reported by BBC News that Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is preparing a bid for free Port status post Brexit. [9] [10] The bid for becoming a special economic zone includes Bournemouth Airport. [11]
In April 2021, the port set up equipment at the cruise terminal to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. [12]
In November 2023, work was finished at a £2.2m border control post at the Port of Poole. [13]
The Port of Poole is a major destination the cruising, as well as for international trade for imports and exports of cargo. [14] A fishing industry is also present. [15]
It has been reported that the Port of Poole is a target for Illegal immigration to the United Kingdom. [16] In 2017, 18 migrants were found including children in a lorry. [17] In 2019, the then local MP for Poole, Robert Syms called on the government and the Minister of State for Immigration to provide more resources to deal with the issue. [18] The Port has a border control post.
The Port is used by Brittany Ferries. [19] and Condor Ferries. [20] The ferry crossing to Cherbourg in France is the shortest crossing of Brittany Ferries. [21] In the summer of 2020, the Cherbourg services were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [22]
Poole Port also has a Border Force Post. [23]
The Port of Poole uses Optare MetroRiders for passengers commuting.
Dorset is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south-east, the English Channel to the south, and Devon to the west. The largest settlement is Bournemouth, and the county town is Dorchester.
Christchurch is a town and civil parish on the south coast of Dorset, England. The parish had a population of 31,372 in 2021. It adjoins Bournemouth to the west, with the New Forest to the east. Part of the historic county of Hampshire, Christchurch was a borough within the administrative county of Dorset from 1974 until 2019, when it became part of the new Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority.
Poole is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is 21 miles (34 km) east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. The town had an estimated population of 151,500 making it the second-largest town in the ceremonial county of Dorset. Together with Bournemouth and Christchurch, the conurbation has a total population of nearly 400,000.
Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley (ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being the Frome. The harbour has a long history of human settlement stretching to pre-Roman times. The harbour is extremely shallow, with one main dredged channel through the harbour, from the mouth to Holes Bay.
Rosslare Europort is a modern seaport located at Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford, Ireland, near the southeasternmost point of the island of Ireland. The port is the primary Irish port serving the European Continent with 36 direct services to the Continent weekly. It handles passenger and freight ferries to and from Cherbourg, Dunkirk, St Malo and Roscoff, in France, Bilbao in Spain and Fishguard and Pembroke Dock in the United Kingdom. Since July 2022, a new freight route between Rosslare and Zeebrugge, Belgium was introduced by Finnlines for a twice weekly ro-ro service between the two ports.
Ferndown is a town and civil parish in Dorset in southern England, immediately to the north of Bournemouth and Poole. The parish, which until 1972 was called Hampreston, includes the communities of Hampreston, Longham, Stapehill and Trickett's Cross. At the 2011 Census, the population of the parish was 26,559, making Ferndown the largest inland town in Dorset in terms of population, being larger than Dorchester.
The Landing Craft, Tank (LCT) was an amphibious assault craft for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of versions. Initially known as the "tank landing craft" (TLC) by the British, they later adopted the U.S. nomenclature "landing craft, tank" (LCT). The United States continued to build LCTs post-war, and used them under different designations in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Sandbanks is an affluent neighbourhood of Poole, Dorset, on the south coast of England, situated on a narrow spit of around 1 km2 or 0.39 sq mi extending into the mouth of Poole Harbour.
Portsmouth Harbour is a 1,264.2-hectare (3,124-acre)/12.6 km2 (4.9 sq mi) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area.
The South East Dorset conurbation is a multi-centred conurbation on the south coast of Dorset in England.
Dorset Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Dorset in South West England, which includes the largely rural area covered by Dorset Council, and the urban conurbation of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
MS Barfleur is a ferry operated by Brittany Ferries on the route between Poole on the south coast of England and Cherbourg, France. She was built at Masa Yards Turku New Shipyard in Finland for the Brittany Ferries subsidiary Truckline and entered service in 1992. In 1999 she was repainted in Brittany Ferries standard livery. Barfleur was the last ship to carry the 1983–2002 version of the Brittany Ferries logo and livery which was replaced by the post-2002 version in March 2009. She sails under the French flag and is registered in Cherbourg. Excluding the HSC Normandie Express and RoRo cargo vessels, she is the smallest passenger vessel in Brittany Ferries' fleet.
Cotentin is a ROPAX ferry owned and operated by Brittany Ferries between Poole and Cherbourg from January until March 2021 and then Portsmouth and Le Havre from March 2021 until June 2021. She previously operated for Brittany Ferries between 2007 and 2013 between Poole–Cherbourg before being chartered to Stena Line as Stena Baltica serving the route between Gdynia and Karlskrona. The vessel was constructed by Aker Finnyards in Finland and delivered to Brittany Ferries on 9 November 2007. Cotentin sails under the French flag and is registered in Morlaix. The ship's gross tonnage is 22,308.
Sandbanks Ferry is a vehicular chain ferry which crosses the entrance of Poole Harbour in the English county of Dorset. The route runs from Sandbanks to Studland and in doing so connects the coastal parts of the towns of Bournemouth and Poole with Swanage and the Isle of Purbeck. This avoids a 25-mile journey by road on a return trip.
Dorset is a county in South West England. The county is largely rural and therefore does not have a dense transport network, and is one of the few English counties without a motorway. Owing to its position on the English Channel coast, and its natural sheltered harbours, it has a maritime history, though lack of inland transport routes has led to the decline of its ports.
Weymouth is a seaside town and civil parish in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. Situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey, 7 miles (11 km) south of the county town of Dorchester, Weymouth had a population of 53,416 in 2021. It is the third-largest settlement in Dorset after Bournemouth and Poole.
Brittany Ferries is the trading name of the French shipping company, BAI Bretagne Angleterre Irlande S.A. founded in 1973 by Alexis Gourvennec, that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between France and the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain, and between Spain and Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Michael James Tomlinson-Mynors is a British politician who served in the Cabinet as Minister of State for Countering Illegal Migration from December 2023 to July 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Dorset and North Poole from 2015 to 2024. He previously served as Solicitor General for England and Wales from September 2022 to December 2023 and Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from July to September 2022.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. The district was created on 1 April 2019 by the merger of the areas that were previously administered by the unitary authorities of Bournemouth and Poole, and the non-metropolitan district of Christchurch. The authority covers much of the area of the South Dorset conurbation.
The economy of the County of Dorset in South West England was worth £16.189 billion to the UK economy in 2013.