Emergency link over the English Channel: London assigns Brexit order to shipping company without ships

United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum

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The British government is heading for new chaos in their plans for emergency communications across the English Channel. On Monday it was announced: One of the shipping companies, which had been commissioned by the Ministry of Transport to ensure the ferry service after the EU exit, had never been a ship in use.

The opposition speaks of a "new debacle". The ministry, on the other hand, defends the award of the contract.

The government had booked around 120 million euros ferries to limit the chaos at the port of Dover in the event of a disorderly Brexit. With the additional ferry connections in the English Channel supply bottlenecks for "important goods" should be avoided, it was said on the weekend from government circles. The orders were awarded to three shipping companies from France, Denmark and Great Britain.

As the BBC reported on Monday, the British shipping company Seaborne Freight received an order for the equivalent of more than 15 million euros - even though she has never operated cargo ships.

In addition, the port facility in Ramsgate, South East England, from where the shipping company wants to operate ferry connections to Belgium, is too narrow for most modern merchant ships. The port has not been operated commercially since 2013.

"Nothing brings Brexit to the point more than this new debacle," criticized Labor MP Neil Coyle. Local politician Paul Messenger asked, "Why choose a company that has never transported a single truck in its history?"

The Ministry of Transport defended the decision. It had been known that Seaborne was a "new supplier". The company will provide the agreed services. Seaborne announced that it would make the port of Ramsgate operational by the end of March until the EU's exit.

The Ministry of Transport's orders to the three shipping companies should make it possible to bring nearly 4,000 trucks per week from the mainland to British ports. This should be relieved, especially the heavily frequented port Dover.

The British authorities fear that the reintroduction of border controls as a result of Brexit will lead to an overload of Dover and giant traffic jams near the port.