Hundreds of passengers were evacuated from a P&O Ferries ship at Dover this morning after a suspicious package was found on board.
Police bomb disposal experts rushed to the scene after the discovery on the 6.40am service.
All crew members and passengers were forced to evacuate amid fears over the nature of the package.
The evacuation could spark major delays for people looking to cross the Channel at Dover this morning.
Images posted on Twitter show how the major ferry port has been blocked off with dozens of police officers at the scene.
A P&O Ferries spokesman said: ‘A suspicious package was found on one of our ships this morning, the authorities are currently in attendance, and all passengers and non-essential crew have been evacuated as a precaution.’
The company said passengers on the cancelled 6.40am and 7.25am will be allocated space on other sailings.
It later tweeted there were delays of around 120 minutes on Calais and Dover routes.
Kent Live reported the nature of the package is not known at this stage, as it emerged all P&O Ferries at the port are being searched.
Highways England warned drivers on Twitter to expect potential delays due to the disruption.
A traffic calming measure has been set up on the A20 to manage large queues of traffic during the incident.
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