Chokepoint · England and France
Strait of Dover
OpenUpdated November 1, 2026
The Strait of Dover is the narrowest point of the English Channel, where it meets the North Sea. It separates England from France. At its narrowest, between South Foreland and Cap Gris-Nez, it is about 33 km wide. More than 400 commercial vessels pass through it every day, making it one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
- Width at the narrowest
- 33 km
- South Foreland to Cap Gris-Nez
- Commercial ships a day
- Over 400
- plus more than 100 ferry crossings
- Small-boat arrivals, 2025
- 41,472
- 21,769 in 2026 to October 30
- Cargo ships a day
- 159
- Last four weeks; 175 a day in 2023
- Shores
United Kingdom
France
How busy is the Strait of Dover?
The UK government says more than 400 commercial vessels use the strait every day, plus more than 100 cross-Channel ferry movements. In 1967 the strait got the world's first traffic separation scheme, which splits ships into one-way lanes. Using the lanes became mandatory in 1977. Britain's Dover Coastguard watches the lane for ships heading south-west, on the English side. France's CROSS Gris-Nez watches the lane for ships heading north-east. Ships of more than 300 gross tonnes must report to them.
IMF PortWatch counted 159 cargo ships and tankers a day in the four weeks to October 25, against 175 a day in 2023. PortWatch counts only cargo ships and tankers, while the UK government's figure of more than 400 a day counts all commercial vessels.
Collisions still happen. On December 14, 2002, the Norwegian car carrier Tricolor sank after a collision at the northern entrance of the strait, with 2,862 cars on board. All 24 crew were rescued.
Dover is the UK's largest roll-on roll-off port, handling 18.5 million tonnes in 2025. The Channel Tunnel, under the strait, carried 1,163,124 trucks and 11.8 million Eurostar passengers.
Ships through the strait each day
Weekly average, January 2023 to October 2026
Where is the Strait of Dover?
The strait sits at the narrowest point of the English Channel, where the Channel meets the North Sea. It is about 33 km wide between South Foreland on the English coast and Cap Gris-Nez on the French coast. Most of the strait is 30 to 50 meters deep, with a maximum of about 68 meters in the Lobourg Channel.
The strait exists because a chalk ridge once joined England to France. About 450,000 years ago, a lake held back by ice to the north spilled over the ridge and began to cut through it. A later megaflood, probably about 160,000 years ago, broke through completely. A 2017 study in the journal Nature Communications described the two stages.
The territorial seas of the United Kingdom and France meet in the strait. There is no strip of international waters between them. On November 2, 1988, the two countries signed an agreement that drew the boundary. The same day, they declared that all ships, warships included, have the right of transit passage through the strait.
ENGLAND
FRANCE
North Sea
English Channel
Dover
Folkestone
Calais
Boulogne-sur-Mer
Dunkirk
Cap Gris-Nez
33 km
ENGLAND
FRANCE
North Sea
English Channel
Dover
Folkestone
Calais
Boulogne-sur-Mer
Cap Gris-Nez
33 km
How many migrants cross the Strait of Dover in small boats?
The UK Home Office recorded 45,755 people crossing in small boats in 2022, the highest year on record. In 2025 the total was 41,472, the second highest. By October 30, 2026, 21,769 people had crossed, about 43% below the same point in 2025. No arrivals were recorded from October 8 to 24, 2026, because of weather.
At least 76 people died crossing the Channel in 2024, by AFP's count, making it the deadliest year on record. At least 29 people died in 2025.
On July 10, 2025, the UK and France announced a "one in, one out" pilot. The first detentions were on August 6, 2025. By June 30, 2026 the UK had returned 1,087 people to France, at a cost of about £56,000 each. The pilot ended on October 1, 2026. In April 2026 the UK and France signed a separate £662 million deal over three years. In August 2026 French forces carried out the first boardings of "taxi boats" at sea.
People crossing the Channel in small boats
Is Britain stopping Russia's shadow fleet in the Channel?
Russia's shadow-fleet tankers must pass through the strait's traffic separation lanes. Russian frigates, including the Admiral Grigorovich and the Neustrashimy, have escorted some of these tankers in 2026, and the Royal Navy follows them. In April 2026 a Russian frigate escorted two shadow tankers through the Channel.
On March 25, 2026, the UK government authorized its forces to board UK-sanctioned vessels in UK waters. At that point the UK had sanctioned 544 ships. On June 14, 2026, Royal Marines and National Crime Agency officers seized the tanker Smyrtos south of Portland, west of the strait. The ship was flying a false Cameroon flag and carried more than 100,000 tonnes of Russian crude from Ust-Luga bound for India. The ship's master, Ajay Pant, was charged with supplying Russian oil. His trial is due to start on December 15, 2026.
At least six tankers changed course after the seizure, but a Reuters analysis found no immediate drop in sanctioned transits. No boardings have taken place inside the Strait of Dover itself so far. France monitors about ten shadow-fleet vessels a day in the Channel.
Russia's shadow fleet in the Channel
- July 2025France monitors about ten shadow-fleet ships a day in the Channel.
- March 2026The UK authorizes forces to board sanctioned ships in UK waters (544 ships sanctioned).
April 2026A Russian frigate escorts two shadow tankers through the Channel.- June 14, 2026The UK seizes the Smyrtos off Portland. It carried more than 100,000 t of Russian crude.
- December 15, 2026The trial of the Smyrtos's master is due to start at Bournemouth Crown Court.
The strait over the years
- 55 BCJulius Caesar sails from the Boulogne area and lands near Deal after finding the Dover cliffs defended. He crosses the strait again in 54 BC.
- Aug 1588English fireships scatter the Spanish Armada off Calais on the night of August 7. The Battle of Gravelines follows on August 8, just north-east of the strait.
- Jan 1785Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries fly a hydrogen balloon from Dover Castle to a forest near Guînes, the first aerial crossing of the Channel.
- May–Jun 1940Operation Dynamo evacuates 338,226 Allied troops from Dunkirk through the strait between May 26 and June 4. Admiral Bertram Ramsay commands the operation from Dover Castle.
- May 1994Queen Elizabeth II and President François Mitterrand open the Channel Tunnel on May 6. It is 50.45 km long, with 37.9 km under the sea.
- 2022A record 45,755 people cross the Channel to Britain in small boats, the most in any year.
