#ferries- Operator P&O Ferries is suing the UK government over its £33m settlement with Eurotunnel, in the latest controversy over the Department for Transport’s (DfT) fraught no-deal Brexit preparations.

As writes The Guardian, the department was forced into the £33m payout after failing to include Eurotunnel in its agreements with ferry operators to provide emergency cross-Channel services, including the scrapped contract with Seaborne Freight. (Afloat adds see related Arklow Shipping story). 

The DfT had signed deals worth £89m with Brittany Ferries and DFDS to secure routes for vital goods in the event of no deal, with forecasts of massive congestion on the routes to Dover and Calais where most freight traffic flows.

Now P&O is contesting the compensation awarded to Eurotunnel, claiming it leaves its ferry service facing an unfair disadvantage.

Further reading on the story can be read here. 

#ferries - The UK government the BBC reports, will pay £33m to Eurotunnel in an agreement to settle a lawsuit over extra ferry services in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

In December, the Department for Transport (DfT) contracted three suppliers to provide additional freight capacity on ferries for lorries.

But Eurotunnel said the contracts were handed out in a "secretive" way.

As part of the agreement, Eurotunnel has agreed to make some improvements to its terminal.

One of the firms awarded a ferry contract, Seaborne Freight, has already had its deal cancelled after the backing of an Irish company (Arklow Shipping) pulled out.

Shortly after it was awarded the contract, the BBC found out that Seaborne had no ships and had never run a ferry service.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has been heavily criticised for the Seaborne deal, which would have been worth £13.8m.

In January, Eurotunnel wrote to Mr Grayling to complain that it had not been considered when the contracts were awarded.

It argued that unlike Seaborne, it has actually run a cross-Channel ferry service (MyFerryLink, which closed in 2015) and should have been approached.

For much more on the Eurotunnel settlement relative to the Brexit ferry fiasco, click here.