Red Funnel, owners of the Hythe ferry, say they are committed to reinstating the historic route across Southampton Water – but need to find £250,000 for a new pontoon.
It was in September 2023 that Isle of Wight ferry operator Red Funnel purchased Hythe Ferry in a bid to ensure daily sailings between Hythe and Southampton Town Quay continued. But less than a year later, in August 2024, the service was suddenly suspended due to damage to the mooring pontoon at Hythe.
Hythe’s historic pier is one of the longest in Britain and carries the world’s oldest pier train service.
It has now been confirmed that the pontoon cannot be repaired and must be replaced at a cost of a quarter-of-a-million-pounds.
Fran Collins, Chief Executive of Red Funnel, told parish councillors on the other side of the Solent that the company, Hythe and Southampton Ferry Company, simply does not have the reserves needed to fund the new pontoon.
Even if the funding was magically found tomorrow, it would be another 2 months before the service is back up and running.
Fran Collins, Director at The Hythe and Southampton Ferry Company, has said:
“We remain committed to resuming this historic, and locally important service.
Article continues below this advertisement “To date, significant investment has extended the lifespan of the service and it’s now necessary to raise further investment to undertake essential infrastructure repairs.
“We have been working on a robust business plan to secure a sustainable long-term future and we’re eager to hear from partners and stakeholders who can help The Hythe and Southampton Ferry Company continue to operate across the Solent.”
Red Funnel can’t run an effective or efficient service on their East Cowes to Southampton routes. Massively underinvested for far too many years. How on earth can they hope to add this issue to their already too long list?
This just about sums up the calibre of decision making in that business over the last decade or so. We’ll buy another ferry company instead of investing in our core business. Oh dear, we’ve run out of money and we have a big loan to pay back… hmm lets delay our accounts for a bit to see if we can get some investment. Oh dear… let’s delay them again…
Red Funnel will go bust. The investors will lose their money. What a pity such greed will sink a 160year+ old company.
I guess at least someone / government can get hold of it on the cheap, do something meaningful with it. I wonder what it will be called next?
wish they would put it out of its misery…
Ye so that wont happen then..
What is the alternative then? They are barely solvent.
No investor in their right mind is going to buy a ferry company which comes clapped out ferries, that needs such a huge near term cash injection to keep it running – before spending what, another 100mil on 3 new car ferries – let alone the jets, and their aging terminals…