FERRY services from Southampton as set to be disrupted as Red Funnel carries out essential maintenance at its terminal. 

The ferry operator has announced today that it will be making urgent improvements to its East Cowes ferry terminal next weekend. 

Taking place between 8.30pm and 6am on September 3 and 8.30pm to 5am on September 4, it will mean that vehicle ferries will be unable to depart and arrive during the work. 

Supporting the work will require the cancellation of four sailings in each direction - 8.15pm, 10pm, 11.59pm and 3am from Southampton; as well as 9.45pm, 11.30pm, 1.30am, and 4.30am from East Cowes. 

To counter the disruption, the company has added to additional crossings in the early hours of Mondaty September 5 at 4am and 5.30am. 

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Leanna Lakes, Operations Director at Red Funnel, said: “We heavily invest in regular maintenance and improvements across all vessels and fendering structures.

"While we generally get more lead time to schedule larger maintenance projects; sometimes, our inspections uncover essential work that can’t wait and needs to be addressed more urgently, and this is one of those occasions.

"We have done our best to limit the impact to our customers by carrying out the required work overnight.

“Nonetheless, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause for those who planned to travel with us during this time."

Red Funnel has now begun contacting impacted customers, who will be offered alternate sailing times and additional assistance.

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Due to the timing of the works, the operator says there will be a "relatively low" number of bookings impacted.

The repair work relates to one of the East Cowes mooring dolphins, known as ‘Dolphin 3’ which is essential to enabling vehicle ferries to moor alongside in East Cowes.

It comes after a routine inspection uncovered that Dolphin 3’s fendering system - a buffer device used to slow its ships down when docking, requires urgent maintenance.

The company’s Red Jet timetable and service between Southampton and West Cowes will remain unaffected.

Any customers booked on cancelled crossings should expect to be contacted within the next 48 hours.

The last opportunities to depart using its vehicle ferry service on the impacted days from Southampton are:

  • Sat, 3 Sept: Last departure at 19:00 / Next departure at 05:00 (morning of Sun, 4 Sept)
  • Sun, 4 Sept: Last departure at 19:00 / Next departure at 04:00 (morning of Mon, 5 Sept)

From East Cowes:

  • Sat, 3 Sept: Last departure at 20:30 / Next departure at 06:30 (morning of Sun, 4 Sept)
  • Sun, 4 Sept: Last departure at 20:30 / Next departure at 05:30 (morning of Mon, 5 Sept)

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