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The Transport Secretary has claimed there's "nothing wrong" with giving a Brexit ship contract to a firm with no ships.

Blundering Chris Grayling said it was "no problem" that the firm had been given a £13million deal because "it's a new start-up business".

He made the bizarre excuse despite Seaborne Freight being expected to run emergency ferries if there's no deal, keeping supplies of essential goods flowing into the UK, in just three months' time.

The Tory Cabinet minister also called Seaborne a "small business", despite the size and importance of the contract.

Seaborne was announced as one of three lines to operate services between Kent's port of Ramsgate and the continent in the event of a no-deal departure.

But it quickly emerged it had no vessels and had never previously run a ferry service, despite winning the £13.8million contract.

(Image: Jack Taylor)

Mr Grayling claimed: “I make no apologies for supporting a new British business.

"I don't think there's anything wrong in the Government supporting small business.”

He insisted ministers “looked very carefully at this business” and the contract was "tightly-drawn-up" so they'd have to deliver.

He told the BBC: “They will be on track to run ferries in April. This is something we haven't plucked from thin air.”

He added: "I don't see any problem in supporting a new British business."

Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, of the anti-Brexit Best For Britain campaign, said: "This has descended into farce.

(Image: Getty Images)

"Supporting new business is one thing, awarding a multi million pound ferry contract to a company with no ships is quite another.

"If Chris Grayling is serious about supporting new British business he might wish to reconsider his position on the damaging Brexit his government is pursuing and give the people the final say."

The contract was revealed last week by the BBC.

Tory councillor Paul Messenger questioned the contract, saying: "It has no ships and no trading history so how can due diligence be done?

"Why choose a company that never moved a single truck in their entire history and give them £14 million? I don't understand the logic of that."

Mr Grayling shot back: “I am not quite sure what an individual Conservative councillor would be able to tell us".

(Image: ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Seaborne was set up two years ago and has been in negotiations about running freight ferries between Ramsgate and Ostend, but no services are currently running.

And narrow berths in the port mean there are few suitable commercial vessels available.

In a statement, the company said it had been working since 2017 on plans to reintroduce ferry sailings from Ramsgate from early 2019.

The business has been "financed by the shareholders" during a development phase involving "locating suitable vessels, making arrangements with the ports of Ostend and Ramsgate, building the infrastructure - such as bunkering - as well as crewing the ferries once they start operating".

It added: "It was intended to start the service in mid-February but this has now been delayed until late March for operational reasons.

"This coincides with the Department for Transport's Freight Capacity Purchase Agreement with Seaborne which is part of their preparations to increase ferry capacity in the unlikely event of a no-deal Brexit."

But Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Sir Ed Davey said it "pretty much sums up their farcical approach to the entire Brexit fiasco."