France and the UK boasted of a 35% drop in Channel crossings in 2023, but now it seems they are on the increase once again since the start of the new year. More than 4,600 migrants have reached England aboard small boats since the start of 2024, according to British Home Office figures. On March 20 alone, 514 people reached the English coast in 10 small boats. At least 10 people have died at sea so far this year, according to France's official figures. The number of crossings recorded marks an increase compared to 2023 and a return to numbers last seen in 2022, a record year in which more than 45,000 people reached England in small boats.
French authorities attributed the drop in 2023 to the success of police action to prevent departures and dismantle networks. The decline also seems to have resulted from a near-total reduction in Albanians among the small boat passengers, thanks to an agreement between London and Tirana. In 2022, almost 13,000 of them reached the UK by sea.
Among migrants who reached the UK in small boats in 2024, Afghans so far make up the biggest group, followed by Iranians and Vietnamese. These three nationalities account for almost half of the people aboard these boats, which are also more overcrowded. On average, 46 people are on board each boat, compared with 43 in 2023 and 30 in 2022, increasing the risk of capsizing.
Although the majority of boat departures are concentrated in the coastal zone between Dunkirk and Boulogne-sur-Mer, both in northern France, intrusions into the ports of Ouistreham and Cherbourg, south of Dunkirk, have been on the rise in 2024, according to a memo from the national police force, which Le Monde gained access to. French police have identified a new occurrence of boats being launched by smugglers far inland from the Aa canal, which empties into the North Sea at Gravelines, near Calais.
French authorities are sparing no effort to combat this new strategy and estimate that they have been able to thwart 69% of attempted sea crossings. The national police force has highlighted the more violent attitude of certain smugglers, as shown by repeated refusals to comply when equipment-loaded vehicles are intercepted on the roads, or the use of violence when attempted crossings are blocked on the beaches.
The smuggling of migrants hidden in trucks, which has long been the main means of irregular access to England, is also on the rise. More than 1,600 people have been discovered in trucks in the northern France since the beginning of 2024, three times more than during the same period in 2023. Sudanese and Eritrean nationals were the most found nationalities.
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