Ferry farce

In a new plunge into farce, the British Government has cancelled a contract to ship goods to the country with a company that turned out to have no boats and no experience running a ferry service. Authorities had been criticised for the £13.8 million deal with Seaborne Freight, part of plans to keep trade flowing if Britain leaves the EU without a divorce deal. The UK Department for Transport said that it had ended the contract because an Irish firm that was backing Seaborne Freight, Arklow Shipping, had withdrawn its support. Seaborne had been contracted to provide services between Ramsgate in southeast England and the Belgian port of Ostend.