Motorists crossing the Solent between Fishbourne and Portsmouth will soon face higher ferry costs, with confirmation that a new Government-imposed environmental charge will add around £3 to a standard return crossing from July 2026.
From 1st July 2026, motorists on Wightlink’s Portsmouth – Fishbourne route will pay a levy on each leg of their journey.
The charge is part of the Labour Government’s UK Emissions Trading Scheme, which is being extended to cover larger domestic ferries.
Cars under 5 metres will be charged £1.50 per single crossing, while larger vehicles will pay £1.75. Motorcycles and scooters will incur a £1.25 fee. This means a typical return journey for a car will cost an additional £3.
The levy will apply to all bookings made from 6th May for travel after 1st July.
The charge applies to all vehicle bookings, including discounted and concessionary travel. This includes: Multilink Vehicle Pass users, NHS hospital appointment bookings, Tesco Partner Reward bookings, Accessible Travel discounts and Sponsorship Account bookings. Pedestrians are not affected.
Multilink customers will not pay the levy when purchasing their pass, but will be charged each time they make a booking.
The fee will appear as a separate line item and must be paid before confirmation.
The Government’s ETS scheme places a cost on emissions produced by operators, with funds used to support renewable energy, low-carbon innovation and energy efficiency improvements.
Wightlink has voiced opposition to the move, arguing it unfairly impacts the Isle of Wight. The company says the Island relies entirely on ferry transport for essential travel including commuting, healthcare and trade. It also highlights that some Scottish island routes have been granted exemptions, while Isle of Wight services have not.
Efforts have been made to challenge the policy through discussions with MPs, Government departments and local organisations, but the levy will still go ahead.
Wightlink says there are practical barriers to reducing emissions further at present, particularly a lack of electrical grid capacity at Portsmouth and Fishbourne. This comes after the company recently confirmed to Island Echo that plans for a fully electric ferry have been shelved in favour of a hybrid vessel due to these limitations.
Despite rising operational costs, Wightlink has stated there are currently no plans to introduce a separate fuel surcharge.
In a separate update, Wightlink has announced that from September 2026, a 20% VAT charge will apply to empty coach bookings. However, coaches travelling with passengers will remain zero-rated.
Well done our 2 MPs ! Yet another nail in the islands coffin.
The Scottish island ferries are exempt from this tax. Why not us ?
We really don’t matter to this government .
I MP!!
Because we in england bloody subsidize it all, ill expect just like free prescriptions don’t have to sell home for care the list goes on.
The Net Zero insanity of Bozo Johnson and now Milipede is bankrupting the country.
Whatever happened to the £300 less we were going to pay under Two Tier Keir and his gang of thieves?
This will ensure the decimation of Liebore in the elections.
Factually while it was a concept of bonkers boris it never came to frutition, under labour it became a reality, it is not as if the islanders have a choice but we do at the ballot box shortly.
That Ballot box won’t change a thing it just gives people
hope that theh have a say – They don’t!
All parties work for the same WEF boss
People still don’t understand how it works.
They are all paid for puppets who do what they are told.
It became a quarter of £110 for three months, followed no doubt, by a huge and unaffordable increase. When will some brave doctor put us out of our misery and Section mad Ed. Moribund?
Well done They/Them Quigley.
We have two MPs now.
They should be holding this up as yet another example of the government choosing to destroy the island’s economy and demanding answers from the transport minister.
Not vague statements about “looking into it” – Actual answers and explanations.
Failing that, who’s up for a visit to Westminster to see our government in action? (when the MPs get back from their hols, of course).
142000 islanders in the public gallery might (just about) get their attention.
Won’t change a thing, that is not even 0.5% of the UK
population since the influx took place
I am surprised they ain’t charging per person
rather than per vehicle.
People emit emissions whilst on board when going to the
toilet, some when they open their mouths.
Lol
Time for a Bridge.
TurpinLink are not needed, they charge too much as it is!
Absolutely pissed off with this bastard government the bullshit netzero crap this year its £3 next be 5 and so it will only go up just fucked off with all it Why shitelink not absorbing this? the £300 plus return fare not enough? Hope you lot out there who voted this shower of shit in are happy about all of this.
And what have the two useless cretins of mp’s done to protect the Island..NOTHING.
We have no alternative way of getting to the mainland and this train crash of a government punishes us for daring to live on the island, the sooner hat lunatic milliband is got rid of the better
If you think it’s bad just wait to see what the Greens do if they ever get power. There are plenty of numpties here who will happily vote Green and then whine on incessantly when their levies hit fares.
I think that politicians salaries should be taxed at double the rate of these “ green “ taxes which are further evidence of their distance from the reality of daily life. The levels of financial incompetence demonstrated by this government are staggering and only matched by those of the Liz Truss administration who were the laughing stock of the civilised world. The Island is a geographical oasis blighted by mainland self interest.
Perhaps we need to become as devolved from Westminster as Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales ?
They are following the European government’s with a further stealth tax hidden under the disguise of being environmentally friendly. DFDS charge on the Newhaven-Dieppe route. £8 for a car, £16 for a van. That’s each way. There is no adjustment for emission levels either.
After more than 15 years as a Multilink Pass customer, I honestly feel the service has gone downhill while the costs have continued to rise.
The latest issue was when I amended an existing booking through the app. Instead of simply changing my sailing, I was forced to pay the £1.50 toll again before I could check in. I wasn’t making a new booking—I was editing one I’d already paid for. If this is how the app is meant to work, it’s a poor system. If it’s a fault, it needs fixing.
The bigger problem is the value of the Multilink Pass itself. It no longer feels like loyal, regular customers are being rewarded.
– Ferries are regularly delayed, yet fares continue to increase year after year.
– Multilink spaces on sailings are often unavailable, even when the ferry clearly isn’t full. It feels as though spaces are deliberately held back for full-fare customers because they generate more revenue.
– If you’re paying for a Multilink Pass, you should receive some priority when booking or changing crossings. At the moment, it feels like the opposite.
For many of us, this isn’t an occasional trip—it’s a necessity. I travel every week for work. One return crossing a week at today’s prices works out at around £4,368 a year, and with the additional £1.50 toll, that’s another £156, bringing the annual total to over £4,500. That’s an enormous amount of money just to get to and from work.
These prices also affect families. My daughter is at university on the mainland, and because standard fares are so expensive and there are no meaningful student discounts, she was only able to come home five times last year. That’s just 10 single crossings, costing around £420. No family should have to limit seeing each other because ferry travel has become so unaffordable.
Another question is why ferry operators don’t seem to be held to the same standards as airlines or train companies. If flights or rail services are significantly delayed, passengers often have clear rights to compensation. Yet ferry services can experience frequent delays, cancellations or timetable changes, and customers are simply expected to accept them. When you’re charging people over £4,500 a year to commute, the least customers should expect is a reliable, punctual service—or fair compensation when that service isn’t delivered. Instead, delays have become so common that they almost feel like part of the timetable.
The company regularly advertises offers, but they rarely benefit the people who use the service the most. Instead of finding new ways to charge loyal customers, why not support them? If the £1.50 toll is unavoidable, absorb the cost for Multilink Pass holders. It would be a small gesture that shows you actually value the people who spend thousands of pounds with you every year.
After 15 years of loyalty, I don’t expect special treatment—I expect fair treatment. Better availability for Multilink customers, reliable sailings, sensible pricing, meaningful loyalty benefits, and a service that recognises the people who keep using it year after year. Right now, it feels like loyalty counts for very little.