The UK government has awarded £ ##5 ##m ( $ 136.4 m ) of contracts to Brittany Ferries , Northern and Seaborne Freight to run additional cross - Channel services in the event of a no - deal Brexit . The decision to award such a contract to Northern Freight , a British start - up company with no ships , led to criticism . Today programme: “ However , Transport Secretary Chris Grayling defended the decision , saying there 's nothing wrong with the government funding a new British business . Seaborne has been planning to introduce ferry crossings leaving Ramsgate from early 2019 , while other new routes will depart from Felixstowe , Immingham , Plymouth , Poole and Portsmouth .
The UK government has awarded £ ##5 ##m ( $ 136.4 m ) of contracts to Brittany Ferries , Northern and Seaborne Freight to run additional cross - Channel services in the event of a no - deal Brexit . The decision to award such a contract to Northern Freight , a British start - up company with no ships , led to criticism . However , Transport Secretary Chris Grayling defended the decision , saying there 's nothing wrong with the government funding a new British business . Seaborne has been planning to introduce ferry crossings leaving Ramsgate from early 2019 , while other new routes will depart from Felixstowe , Immingham , Plymouth , Poole and Portsmouth .