Red Funnel has announced further cancellations on its East Cowes – Southampton vehicle ferry service tomorrow (Tuesday) marking the 4th straight day of cross-Solent disruption. The problem first arose on Saturday with cancellations continuing throughout the day and into Sunday. Several sailings were cancelled today – as first reported by Island Echo – with work still not completed. Now, Red Funnel has confirmed that tomorrow (21st May) the 06:30, 09:30, 12:30, 15:30, 18:30 and 21:45 from East Cowes and the 05:00. 08:00, 11:00, 14:00, 17:00 and 20:15 from Southampton are cancelled too. A Red Funnel spokesperson has said:
“We sincerely apologise for any disruption to your journey, and our technical team works hard to bring Red Eagle back into service as quickly as possible,” said a spokesperson for Red Funnel. “If we are able to bring the vessel back more quickly or have any further updates, we will issue another update in due course.”
Red Eagle is expected to resume operations from 05:00 on Wednesday morning. UPDATE TUESDAY @ 01:00 – A number of Tuesday morning Red Jet sailings have also now been cancelled, with limited crew availability being blamed. Red Jets at 06:05 and 07:15 from Southampton, alongside the 06:40 and 07:50 sailings from West Cowes, have been cancelled. UPDATE TUESDAY @ 13:44 – Red Funnel has confirmed that, thanks to the hard work of its specialist engineering team, Red Eagle is now back in service. The following sailings have been reinstated for today:
- Departing Southampton to East Cowes: 14:00, 17:00, 20:15
- Departing East Cowes to Southampton: 15:30, 18:30, 21:45
A spokesperson for the company has said:
“We would like to thank all of our customers for their patience and understanding as we facilitated the emergency repairs to Eagle’s aft Voith unit and completed the necessary sea trials. “Any customers who were originally booked on these sailing times, who would still prefer to travel at this time, can check in 45 minutes before departure, or keep to their newly assigned crossing time. “For any assistance, please contact 02380019192.”
