The port said 72,000 passengers, which it estimated to equal more than 200 miles worth of traffic, was cleared on Sunday (24 July).

Queues were also said to have built up at the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone with reports of travellers being held for up to 21 hours.

In a statement, chief executive Doug Bannister said: "The backlog of tourist passengers that was generated on Friday has also now been cleared along with successfully getting Saturday’s holidaymakers off on their way.

"With the entire port system working efficiently, including strong support from French border colleagues and ferries running through the night, the port demonstrated that its summer plan will work for the rest of the holiday period, as it did in clearing huge volumes of tourist and freight traffic to get back to normal by the early hours of Sunday morning."

A critical incident was declared at the port on Friday (22 July), with Bannister claiming "woefully inadequate" staffing in France was to blame for the disruption.