This is one of the principal ports in cross-Channel communications, the steamers serving Boulogne, 30 m.
There is no lack of cross-channel services between Ireland and Great Britain.
In 1825 the shipping duties on the cross-Channel trade were abolished and since that date no official figures are available as to a large part of Irish trade with Great Britain.
A boat, called the "Bessemer," was built on this plan in 1875 and put on the cross-Channel service to Calais, but the mechanism of the swinging saloon was not found effective in practice and was ultimately removed.
Growth in long-distance traffic offset a decline in the traditional cross-Channel market, tho Eurotunnel claimed it held its own against the ferry operators.