Sir, Frankly, I am all at sea concerning this lark of carrying 140,000 tonnes of coal from Colombia to Ireland, a journey of some 3,000 miles in a ship that cost the earth to build and the stars to navigate. Apart from the cocaine, I wish someone would give us the dope on the economics of that exercise - the money point, so to speak.
After all, there's bags of coal in Britain. A short sea trip then overland by train would appear to be a sensible and mutually beneficial option, as well as generating a lot of employment and goodwill. That would be a wholesome traffic, not to be sniffed at in any sense. Yours, etc..
Bird Avenue,
Dublin 14.