How to get Direct Ferries Schedules in Make

Scrape Direct Ferries public route pages for ferry sailing schedules from BoatTrip JSON-LD - operator, departure/arrival times, and duration. directferries.com is one page of it. A run reads that public list and saves one row per result.

Set up the Apify actor

Apify is where this run is collected. An actor is the program that collects the rows. A task is that program saved with your settings, so the next section can ask for the latest rows. You need a free Apify account.

01
Open Direct Ferries Schedules and click Try for free. Create an Apify account if you do not have one. The Free plan does not ask for a card.

You are on the input form. Keep the sample for this first run.

{
    "originPort": "Dover",
    "destinationPort": "Calais",
    "routeUrls": [],
    "maxItems": 5
}

03
Leave the proxy setting as it is. Click Start and wait until the run says Succeeded.
04
Open Storage, then Dataset. You should see routeName, originPort, destinationPort, operator.
05
When you want the real list, raise maxItems. The sample cap is only there so the first run stays small.
06
Go back to the input and choose Save as a new task. Name it after this list.
07
Open the task. Copy the task ID from the address bar. Excel, Sheets, Power BI, and the other guides ask for this ID.
08
On the task, open Schedules and add a weekly run if you want fresh rows. Each run pays the start charge and the charge for the rows. The amounts are in the price list on this page.
09
Open Settings, then API & Integrations, and copy an API token. Excel, Sheets, and the other guides put this token in a download link. Anyone with that link can download the rows, so treat it like a password.

How to set up in Make

Use the task ID and the API token from Set up the Apify actor, above.

01
In your Make scenario, add a module and search Apify. Choose Run an Actor.
02
Connect your Apify account with OAuth. If Make asks for a token, paste the API token from Set up the Apify actor, above.

Select Direct Ferries Schedules. Set Run synchronously to Yes for a small sample. Paste this input.

{
    "originPort": "Dover",
    "destinationPort": "Calais",
    "routeUrls": [],
    "maxItems": 5
}

04
Add Get Dataset Items. For Dataset ID, choose the default dataset ID from the Run an Actor module.
05
Map routeName, originPort, destinationPort, operator, departureTime into the next module. A weekly repeat is the schedule from Set up the Apify actor, above.

Schema

Examples come from the actor sample, not a live result.

Name	Description	Example
`routeName`	Route name	`Dover - Calais`
`originPort`	Origin port	`Dover`
`destinationPort`	Destination port	`Calais`
`operator`	Operator	`Irish Ferries`
`departureTime`	Departure time	`00:20`
`arrivalTime`	Arrival time	`01:50`
`durationIso`	Duration (ISO 8601)	`PT1H30M`
`durationMinutes`	Duration (minutes)	`90`
`routeUrl`	Route URL	`https://www.directferries.com/dover_calais_ferry.htm`
`scrapedAt`	Scraped at	`2026-09-10T10:00:00+00:00`

routeNameRoute nameDover - Calais
originPortOrigin portDover
destinationPortDestination portCalais
operatorOperatorIrish Ferries
departureTimeDeparture time00:20
arrivalTimeArrival time01:50
durationIsoDuration (ISO 8601)PT1H30M
durationMinutesDuration (minutes)90
routeUrlRoute URLhttps://www.directferries.com/dover_calais_ferry.htm
scrapedAtScraped at2026-09-10T10:00:00+00:00