A record number of trucks have travelled through the Channel Tunnel this year despite migrant disruption in Calais and traffic chaos caused by a summer blighted by Operation Stack.

It only took until Tuesday, December 22, for Eurotunnel’s Le Shuttle freight service to break its previous high of 1,464,880 vehicles carried in both directions between Folkestone and Coquelles.

The operator said it was an “extraordinary performance”, breaking a record it set in 2012 during the year of the London Olympics.

Le Shuttle still has another 45% of its capacity available for growth, with three new shuttles on order.

The cross-Channel freight market is predicted to grow in the coming years, with the Port of Dover carrying £100 billion of freight good annually.

It comes as new European rules this year have outlawed cheap heavy fuel oil across large areas of the North Sea, with operators forced to use more expensive greener alternatives.

The move has prompted a surge in traffic to Kent, where crossing prices are cheaper because operators have a shorter distance to travel.

Many have opted to use the speedier Channel Tunnel.

Eurotunnel beefed up security around its French terminal in October after a summer of disruption caused by migrants trying to make the crossing from the Continent to the UK through the Channel Tunnel.