Port of Ramsgate
The Port of Ramsgate is a harbour situated in Ramsgate, south-east England, serving cross-Channel freight traffic and smaller working and pleasure craft. It is owned and operated by Thanet District Council.
History
The construction of Ramsgate Harbour began in 1749, and was completed in about 1850. The two most influential architects of the harbour were father and son John Shaw and John Shaw Jr, who designed the clock house, the obelisk, the lighthouse and the Jacob's Ladder steps.The harbour has the unique distinction of being the only harbour in the United Kingdom awarded the right to call itself a Royal Harbour. This was bestowed by King George IV after he was taken by the hospitality shown by the people of Ramsgate when he used the harbour to depart and return with the Royal Yacht Squadron in 1821. In 2024 the harbour was designated a Heritage Harbour.
Because of its proximity to mainland Europe, Ramsgate was a chief embarkation point both during the Napoleonic Wars and for the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940.
Passenger and freight services
Helped by its position from the French coast, the port provided cross-Channel crossings for many years, with Ramsgate Port having its own access tunnel avoiding town centre congestion.Ferries
Whilst historically, the port of Ramsgate had boasted a ferry service to France, these had ceased in 1966. In December 1979 a new ferry route between Dunkerque and Ramsgate was announced. This was to be operated by Dunkerque Ramsgate Ferries and was run by Olau Line-founder; Ole Lauritzen. The service had originally been expected to utilise the Olau Line vessel; Olau Kent, but actually was served by the much older ship Nuits St Georges, which commenced sailings in May 1980.By the beginning of September 1980 a series of problems and the arrest of Nuits St Georges saw the collapse of DRF, which left the terminal at Ramsgate having to be mothballed.
Later in 1980, discussions commenced about a replacement service for Dunkerque Ramsgate Ferries, capitalising on the £6.25 million invested by Thanet District Council to create the ferry facilities at Ramsgate. These discussions involved the Finnish shipping company Rederi Ab Sally, who created the Sally Ferries service which commenced sailings to Dunkerque in 1981.
Sally Line were not only the ferry operator on the route, but also operated the Port of Ramsgate under a 90 year agreement with Thanet District Council. By 1983 it became clear that the exposed nature of the port needed addressing, and a breakwater scheme was instituted to provide protection to the port and allowing fewer cancelled sailings due to poor weather. As a result of this the Sally Line operations were reorganised with a separate company being established; Port Ramsgate Ltd to assist with the development of Ramsgate as a port for other operators. This reorganisation paid off in October 1983 when an agreement was reached for Schiaffino Line to commence cargo operations from Ramsgate to Ostend, and a second berth was completed in February 1984 which resulted in Schiaffino moving all their services to Ramsgate from Dover. Construction of the breakwater commenced in July 1984, completing in November of that year and was underaken by John Howard & Company plc. A further expansion was announced in 1985 for a third linkspan, a new second breakwater and the strengthening, joining and widening of the existing breakwaters; with construction again to be undertaken by John Howard & Company. This was completed in 1986, although delays over a proposed further expansion of the port to include a rail link forced John Howard & Company into receivership shortly before completion of the works, started in 1985.
After many years of losses and an acrimonious withdrawal in 1985 from the Sealink consortium, the state owned Belgian company Regie voor Maritiem Transport opened discussions with Sally Line in 1986 about moving their services. This would require routing rail traffic to Port of Ramsgate, initially via Ramsgate railway station, but with an envisaged branch line being built to serve the port directly. This did not come to pass but this would not be the last word in a relationship between RMT and Sally.
Negotiations between Sally Line and Thanet District Council in 1986 extended the lease of the port to 125 years. With further security of tenure, the idea of a rail link to Ramsgate persisted and during 1986/1987 serious discussions took place between Sally/Port Ramsgate, British Railways Board, SNCF and SNCB about moving train ferry services away from a Sealink British Ferries controlled berth at Dover Western Docks to Ramsgate. Ultimately a decision by the Department of the Environment to establish a public enquiry would have delayed the project to such an extent that discussions ceased.
By 1990, it was claimed that Ramsgate was the fastest growing port in Britain. Further expansion of the port saw the introduction of freight services by the Anglo Dutch Ferry Line to compliment the existing services by Sally Line and Schiaffino Line.
Regie voor Maritiem Transport, the Belgian-government owned former member of the Sealink consortium until 1985, announced in 1993 that having operated in conjunction with European Ferries under the Townsend Thoresen and P&O European Ferries branding, and then independently as Oostende Lines, they would enter a new pooling agreement with Sally Line from January 1994. This agreement saw their conventional ferry and Boeing Jetfoil services move their UK port from Dover to Ramsgate, ending the link between Dover and Belgium after over 100 years. Services commenced on 1 January as planned, however further dredging work delayed the introduction of the Prins Filip until the end of the month. The shallow depth of Ramsgate would see a continual risk of grounding at low water during her years operating from the port. RMT's fast ferry services recommenced in February 1994 after the arrival of the floating jetfoil terminal from Dover.
A further request for better access to the port was turned down by the Department of Transport in the Summer of 1995, when they rejected a £21 million scheme to build a relief road into the harbour area.
In September 1996, after a reported nine months of discussions, and the announcement that RMT services were to cease in 1997; Sally Line announced a new joint venture with Holyman to be known as Holyman Sally Ferries. The joint venture, commencing in March 1997, was to deploy two of Holyman's 81-metre catamarans on the route to Belgium, and was two-thirds owned by Holyman and one-third owned by the Sally parent company, by now; Silja Line. Sally's freight operations which operated under the name of Sally Freight remained separate from the joint venture with Holyman and the traditional Sally route between Ramsgate and Dunkerque closed in April 1997, being replaced with a fast service which closed in October the same year. RMT's former floating jetfoil terminal was removed from Ramsgate for scrapping in Spain, in early April 1997.
Throughout the 1990s, poor access to the Port of Ramsgate was a continual problem and with no progress being made on a proposed link road despite three public enquiries, this became a particular bone of contention between Sally and government at local and national levels. The link road would eventually open in 2000.
The Holyman Sally venture was not financially viable and Holyman became partners with Hoverspeed and moved the service to Dover in March 1998 as Holyman Hoverspeed Ltd. Silja Line's rumoured plans to sell their UK operations came to light around the same time as the cessation of the Holyman joint venture and Sally Line's passenger operations were restructured and marketed as Sally Direct from May 1998, in what would prove to be a last ditch attempt to save the company. Ultimately the end came at midnight on 20 November 1998 at which point operations of Sally Direct and Port Ramsgate ceased, and the port at Ramsgate returned to Thanet District Council.
Between 21 November 1998 and April 2013 a predominantly freight service was provided to Ostend by TransEuropa Ferries. Passenger services were only available on certain crossings, and then only with vehicles.
The long awaited £30 million Harbour Approach Road was finally completed and opened on 30 June 2000.
Hovercraft
ran a crossing from Ramsgate Harbour to Calais from 6 April 1966 using small, passenger-only SR.N6 hovercraft. When the much larger SR.N4 craft, capable of carrying 30 vehicles and 254 passengers, were delivered in 1969, Hoverlloyd moved operations to the purpose-built Ramsgate Hoverport in Pegwell Bay, near Ramsgate, which closed in 1987.Recent years
Since 2013, there have been no ferry services from Ramsgate despite several suggestions of a new service by Euroferries over the years.Between 2012–13 and 2014–15, the port recorded a loss of £2.7 million, and it was suggested it should be closed. In 2016, Gefco commenced using the port to import and store cars prior to onward distribution.
The port however continued to make losses, with a further loss of £2.5 million in the year 2018–19, and only limited activity in the commercial port. In 2019, Seaborne Freight was awarded a £13.8m freight contract to Ostend which could be used in the event of a no deal Brexit, but this was ruled out as impractical.
During 2024 a tender process was run to secure a new operator for the Port, using £7.63m of Levelling Up funds for the infrastructure. During the tender process it was revealed that discussions had taken place with an unnamed potential operator. This was later revealed to be the Dover Harbour Board, but they ultimately decided not to submit a tender with Dover Chief Executive; Doug Bannister, saying in a letter that:
"In the end, we determined that we could not submit a tender for the parameters contained in that process. In short, the capital investment that we felt was required compared immediately available market held more risk than we could accept at that point...
''...it is regrettable, as the fundamental advantages of a re-opened Ramsgate remain. However, we simply cannot progress within the timescales at this time."''