Strait of Dover live traffic
English Channel ↔ North Sea
Statistics are being loaded
Daily transit counts from IMF PortWatch appear here after the first synchronisation.
Vessels right now and our own transit count
Positions received in the last 30 minutes from shore-based AIS receivers, and transits counted by StraitTraffic from those signals. Independent of the official statistics above.
Shore receivers reach only part of this area, so the map shows only some of the vessels and StraitTraffic does not count transits here. Use the official statistics above for traffic levels.
About Strait of Dover traffic
The Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel, carries the traffic between the North Sea ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg and the rest of the world. Its traffic separation scheme is the busiest in the world, with cross-Channel ferries weaving through north-east and south-west bound lanes.
How transits are counted
A transit is counted when a vessel is seen in the Channel south-west of the strait, then in the strait off Dover and Calais, and then in the southern North Sea, or the reverse. Ferries between Dover and Calais or Dunkirk cross the lanes and are excluded. Official daily totals come from IMF PortWatch.