As a dredger prepares the harbour for Brexit, locals are unsure if the ‘no-ships’ ferry firm is the solution to the port’s problems

Flanked by seagulls against a powder-blue sky, a dredger is on day two of its low-rumbling shuffle across Ramsgate harbour. The job of excavating two-and-a-half metres of mud from the port is slow and dull. But the UK’s only royal harbour has become the site of fevered debate as it prepares to turn into “a second Dover” in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

With only 11 weeks to go and a £13.8m government contract awarded by transport secretary Chris Grayling to Seaborne Freight, a firm with no track record to run Ramsgate’s proposed ferry route to Ostend, the pressure is on.

“It doesn’t look like that thing [the dredger] is doing very much,” said Margaret Selwood, who was walking her dog along the beach. Selwood, whose late husband “worked in maritime”, was hopeful that a no-deal Brexit could restore Ramsgate to its former glory. “We were a proud town before they just left all this here to rot and it’s a shame really. I don’t think this lot knows what they’re doing but I think it’s good if it gives us a boost.”

Seaborne Freight faced scrutiny and ridicule last week when it was revealed that the firm had no ships, no contracts with Ramsgate or Ostend ports in place, and that the terms and conditions on its website were cut and pasted from a takeaway delivery company. Its CEO, Ben Sharp, was previously managing director of Mercator, a chartering company that collapsed in 2014 with debts of £1.8m.

It is understood that Seaborne has hired Dutch company Van Oord to prepare the port to accommodate large cross-Channel ferries. A harbour tradesman, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s a shambles. Everything is so cloak and dagger and mysterious – Seaborne have been trying to get hold of this harbour for two or three years now but they have no experience or rep in the industry. It’s not just the dredging – none of the walkways are safe at the moment, parts of it are condemned. It’s a minimum of 12 weeks’ work. There’s no way it will be up and running in time.”

The residents of Ramsgate have been lobbying for the redevelopment of its ailing port for more than 18 months. Run by Thanet District Council and incurring estimated losses of £20m since 2010, Ramsgate harbour has not had a cross-Channel service since 2013. The arrival, then, of Seaborne Freight might have been met with more enthusiasm.

“You’ve got to be joking,” laughs John Davis, a campaigner. “It is a farce. Grayling is pure incompetence.” At lunchtime in the Royal Victoria Pavilion, a grand seaside building converted into Britain’s biggest Wetherspoons, Davis has organised an impromptu meeting of Ramsgate Action Group.

“We’re a bit like a dad’s army,” explained chairman Steve Coombes, who has been railing against Thanet Council and Seaborne Freight for two years. The group is lobbying for Ramsgate’s harbour to be restored into a commercially owned marina village.

It’s all a load of hogwash, Seaborne aren’t equipped to deal with a £14m contract. They haven’t got a port to piss in Steve Coombes, Ramsgate Action Group

“Where was the due diligence with the government handing Seaborne this contract?” asked Coombes. “It’s all a load of hogwash, they aren’t equipped to deal with a £14m contract. They haven’t got a port to piss in.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “Before any contract was signed, due diligence on Seaborne Freight was carried out both by senior officials at the Department for Transport, and highly reputable independent third-party organisations.

“Our contractual arrangements clearly reflect Seaborne Freight’s status as a new ferry operator and as such it is obliged to meet a number of stringent time-staged requirements to demonstrate that it can provide an effective service, with break clauses in the DfT’s favour if it fails to meet them.”

“Ramsgate is a deprived town and we’re not waiting for the government to inject money here,” said Stephen Byrne, who moved from London. “It has a wonderful history, Van Gogh lived here, Queen Victoria holidayed here, we’re trying to regenerate the port and harbour as a tourist attraction.”

In 2016, the Kent town of about 40,000 people voted overwhelmingly for Brexit with 64% of the Thanet constituency voting Leave, based on a 73% turnout – one of the highest in the UK. According to Davis, very few locals will have changed their mind: “It was never about too much immigration really,” he nodded awkwardly. “It’s about jobs, housing and paying all that money to the EU.”

Irene, who works in a cafe by the train station, agreed. “We just want it over with now, it’s a joke. I’ll be honest, Brexit comes on the news and I turn it over, it’s bad isn’t it? But we need to get out and just get on with it. The majority of us voted for it and it’s only right.”

Irene would not be pressed on whether she would prefer Britain crashing out with no deal. “Theresa May is trying but she’s doing a bad job, a terrible job.” What did she make of the revival of Ramsgate’s port? “I think them doing what they’re doing can only be a good thing, because it will be better for businesses here.”

Ramsgate has been hit hard by a decade of austerity, unemployment is higher than the average for both Kent and the country as a whole. Where neighbouring Margate has enjoyed a resurgence by attracting an artistic community priced out of London, this district of Thanet once had the UK’s only Ukip-led council.

“We voted a Ukip council but not because we’re … Ukip-y,” explained Davis. “We were fed up – but it’s gotten worse. We’re being left behind.”