Red Funnel has confirmed that it will be running a revised timetable on its vehicle ferry service until at least Friday, as engineers battle to bring Red Eagle back into service.
The troubled Raptor-class ferry was pulled from service on Tuesday due to an issue with a voith unit. This led to a number of cancellations on the East Cowes-Southampton route in the following days.
Now, bosses at the cross-Solent operator have been told it’s going to take much longer to repair Red Eagle that initially thought, leading to a revised timetable being introduced between now and Friday (13th September).
It means a total of 10 days of disruption for customers, which comes just 8 weeks after Red Eagle was pulled from service for a similar technical issue.
Red Funnel has said that despite a regular Voith propeller maintenance programme, another critical component of the vessel’s forward propeller system has unexpectedly malfunctioned at the 2-year mark of its 5-year shelf life. This is causing high temperatures and low oil pressure. This issue is being investigated by the engineering team, working closely with the manufacturer.
Commentators are questioning how Red Funnel intends to continue running the Raptor ferries – Eagle, Osprey and Falcon – for another 4 years (at least) until replacement ferries can be built and introduced to the Solent operation.
2 ferries currently remain in operation but its not impossible for technical issues to hit those vessels too, as seen in recent months during what has been a tricky period for Red Funnel.
Revised timetable – 7th to 13th September 2024
Departing Southampton:
Sat 7: 03:00 / 06:00 / 07:00 / 09:00 / 10:00 / 12:00 / 13:00 / 15:00 / 16:00 / 18:00 / 19:00 / 21:00 / 22:00 / 23:59
Sun 8: 06:00 / 07:00 / 09:00 / 10:00 / 12:00 / 13:00 / 15:00 / 16:00 / 18:00 / 19:00 / 21:00 / 22:00 / 23:59
Mon 9: 03:00 / 06:00 / 07:00 / 09:00 / 10:00 / 12:00 / 13:00 / 15:00 / 16:00 / 18:00 / 19:00 / 21:00 / 22:00 / 23:59
Tue 10-Thu 12: 03:00 / 06:00 / 07:00 / 09:00 / 10:00 / 12:00 / 13:00 / 15:00 / 16:00 / 18:00 / 19:00 / 21:00 / 22:00 / 23:59
Fri 13: 03:00 / 06:00 / 07:00 / 09:00 / 10:00 / 12:00 / 13:00 / 15:00 / 16:00 / 18:00 / 19:00 / 21:00 / 22:00 / 23:59
Departing East Cowes:
Sat 7: 01:30 / 04:30 / 07:30 / 08:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 13:30 / 14:30 / 16:30 / 17:30 / 19:30 / 20:30 / 22:30 / 23:30
Sun 8: 01:30 / 07:30 / 08:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 13:30 / 14:30 / 16:30 / 17:30 / 19:30 / 20:30 / 22:30 / 23:30
Mon 9: 01:30 / 04:30 / 07:30 / 08:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 13:30 / 14:30 / 16:30 / 17:30 / 19:30 / 20:30 / 22:30 / 23:30
Tue 10-Thu 12: 01:30 / 04:30 / 07:30 / 08:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 13:30 / 14:30 / 16:30 / 17:30 / 19:30 / 20:30 / 22:30 / 23:30
Fri 13: 01:30 / 04:30 / 07:30 / 08:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 13:30 / 14:30 / 14:55 / 16:30 / 17:30 / 19:30 / 20:30 / 22:30 / 23:30
Red Funnel is currently moving affected traffic and contacting impacted customers directly with their new crossing times.
Where is everyone?
The new site has booted everyone off and forced them to reregister.
The usual shambles, then. One wonders why they don’t just revert to the winter timetable until it is fixed, rather than this uneven, haphazard fiasco. Given that shareholders have milked the company until it is in jeopardy of collapse, how do they imagine they are going to ever buy three new ships? More creative accountancy, no doubt.
Does this work yet?