Wightlink’s car ferry terminal in Portsmouth is to close for 3 days throughout March to allow for construction work to progress.
As part of the company’s £45million investment into port improvements and a new ferry, Wightlink’s Fishbourne-Portsmouth car ferry service will be using the International Port on select days next month. A revised timetable will also be in operation, details of which can be found at https://www.wightlink.co.uk/go/service-status/.
The changes to the cross-Solent service will take place on:
- Tuesday 7th March
- Wednesday 8th March
- Thursday 9th March
Wightlink will only accept booked vehicles during the 3 days and no dangerous goods or foot passengers will be carried due to security reasons.
Speaking to Island Echo last week about what is to come for Wightlink customers, CEO Keith Greenfield said:
“All being well the new ramps and double deck marshaling area at Portsmouth will be in action in time for the summer school holidays. It’s a tight timeline.
“St Clare – and eventually the new ship – will be able to load both decks at the same time to speed up the turnaround process and to help reduce congestion at both terminals.
“In peak periods with full boats it is really difficult to turnaround fast enough. A fully loaded St Clare takes us 20-25 minutes to load at the moment, but the changes should cut that down to less than 15. It doesn’t sound a huge amount but when you add that up throughout the day you end up saving a couple of hours. It will improve reliability and it will get cars off the main roads quicker”.
Article continues below this advertisement “We have a new customer building at Portsmouth that should be open later this year. Once it’s ready we will move our customer facilities into the ground floor, with staff facilities incorporated into the middle floor and a Costa outlet on the top floor.
“It should be a win win for everybody. It’s a big investment for us – £45million – so we are making a big statement about the future and our commitment to the Island. We want to talk up the Island and get people here”.
