Abstract
THE cross-channel ferry service between Dover and Dunkerque has now been in operation since October 1936. The three ferry steamers engaged in the service carry passengers between Great Britain and Europe in through sleeping cars. Recently a special ramp has been built which enables motorists to drive straight into the special garage on board the ship, which has accommodation for twenty-five cars. It is not necessary to empty the petrol tanks of the cars before boarding the ship as special fireproof construction has been adopted. The new ramp is a reinforced concrete structure at the side of the ferry dock and there is a portcullis type of transfer bridge which is lowered on to the deck of the ship. The length of each of the ferry steamers is 360 feet and the beam is 63 feet. It is provided with twin screws each driven by a Parsons steam turbine through single reduction gearing. The normal speed is 16 J knots and the total horse-power is 4,900. It takes 500 passengers, 12 sleeping cars (or forty goods wagons) and 25 cars in the garage. The British Engineers’ Export Journal of August states that the traffic carried by the train ferry is very varied. To the engineering exporter this ferry service is of great value, since heavy and awkward pieces of machinery can be loaded on a truck at Victoria and need suffer no transhipment until they arrive at a destination on the Continent. Up to May 31 of this year, the ferry service conveyed 9,577 loaded wagons, and during the same period 12,277 tons of merchandise were conveyed in through trucks from Dover to Dunkerque, and 23,288 tons were carried in the reverse direction.
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The Cross-Channel Ferry Service. Nature 140, 1091 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/1401091b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1401091b0