Isle of Wight ferry passengers have been experiencing severe delays today after a technical fault was discovered on board Red Eagle, requiring immediate and further investigation.
Red Funnel say that to allow for diagnostics and repair work to be carried out, the vessel must be temporarily removed from service.
Red Osprey out of service for repairs
As Red Osprey is also out of service for repairs at the moment, Red Falcon will be operating a one-boat “shuttle service” until further notice.
The vessel will depart from Southampton and East Cowes approximately every 3 hours, with the next scheduled departure from East Cowes expected at 14:00 and Southampton, 15:30.
Revised crossing times
Red Funnel teams are reaching out to all affected customers to notify them of the changes. It has updated its Website with today’s revised crossing times, along with advice on when to arrive at the terminal.
For the most up-to-date times please visit Red Funnel’s ‘Live Service Status’ page.
The company also continues to advise customers without a booking not to arrive to its vehicle ferry terminals, as booking is essential at this time.
Love: Town being used as their own personal car park
Cllr Karl Love told News OnTheWight that “cars and vehicles are stacked up throughout our town as they use it as their own personal car park”.
He went on to say that he’d written to Red Funnel, offering solutions and asking about their emergency plans and what actions they take delivery at the pressures on our town and such events happen?
“I don’t believe that there is an emergency plan because it’s certainly not been implemented over the years and it’s time for them to get real and start providing proper solutions.
“The new yard remains half-finished and has become virtually a rubbish tip so why is it not been completed which would’ve helped in today’s breakdown?”
Lakes: Working very hard to fix this
Leanna Lakes, Operations Director, Red Funnel said:
“We sincerely apologise for this additional disruption to our vehicle ferry service between Southampton and East Cowes, especially as we are already contending with the disruption to our network.
“Our teams shore-side and on board continue to work their hardest to get passengers to their destinations as quickly and as safely as possible and we wish to thank all our customers in advance for their patience and understanding.
“We hope to have a second vessel back in operation from this evening and are completely focused on achieving this.
“We promise to keep customers informed of our progress and ask that they bear with our front-line teams as they do their very best to adapt to this stressful situation.
“We are working very hard to fix this and apologise again for the impact that this will have on our customers’ plans.”
Image: © Rakina Wadey
