A radical and ambitious proposal to turn the Dover Strait green and to allow only fully electric ferries on the short-sea English Channel crossing will be put to the government today.

The plan is for the routes between Dover and Calais and Dunkirk to become the first zero-carbon shipping corridor in the world, with a new generation of ferries making the 22-mile crossing on battery power and the ports replacing their fuel bunkers with industrial-size ship recharging points.

If the proposal is agreed, it is likely that in time there will be a corollary mandate to demand that heavy goods and passenger vehicles using the port and ferries also will have to be lower-emission.

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The UK-France route is operated by DFDS, P&O Ferries and Irish Ferries which entered the Dover-Calais market almost a year ago.