#ferries - In the UK the Department for Transport is cancelling contracts to provide extra ferry services after Brexit.

As BBC News reports, ending the contracts with Brittany Ferries and DFDS could cost the taxpayer more than £50m. (See related Eurotunnel payout story). 

The government bought £89m worth of capacity from the two firms. Some of that capacity might be sold, but millions of pounds could be lost.

The contracts were designed to ease pressure on the port of Dover, by creating extra services at other ports.

In February, the DfT was forced to axe its £13.8m contract with a third company, Seaborne Freight, which the BBC found had never sailed a vessel.

Earlier this year, the National Audit Office estimated that the cancellation costs of all the ferry contracts would be £56.6m.

The cost is likely to only be several million pounds less than this. More on the story, here.