A number of Wightlink’s Fishbourne-Portsmouth car ferry sailings have been cancelled for tomorrow (Thursday) due to forecast wind conditions on the Solent.
The disruption is linked to operational limitations on the ferry St Clare, which is currently running on 3 out of 4 engines due to an issue with one of its propellers.
Because of this fault, the vessel must operate within strict limits and cannot safely sail in very strong winds. Forecast conditions for Thursday are expected to exceed those limits, leading to several cancellations on the Portsmouth-Fishbourne route.
Wightlink has confirmed that customers affected by the cancelled crossings are being contacted and moved to alternative sailings where possible.
Repairs to the St Clare are planned to take place in the coming weeks at a dry dock facility, although details of the location and timing have not yet been confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Victoria of Wight ferry has returned from refit but is unable to re-enter service until it completes its final Maritime & Coastguard Agency checks and receives formal clearance to sail.
To help maintain cross-Solent capacity, Wightlink is operating additional sailings on its Lymington-Yarmouth route.
Wightlink has said that contacting all affected customers may take several hours, with further updates expected via its WhatsApp service update channel once the process is complete.
Beauty of a Tunnel or Bridge, no restrictions.
Forecasted? Since when did any weather person ever get the forecast correct? Forecasting and saying g rain or wind will happen then tagging a 24hr time frame is not forecasting that is just what normally happens. If football games adhered to that method a game would never be played
Enough is enough will you stop blurting on about a bridge/tunnel, its not going to happen so give it a bloody rest you idiot.
It’s now just hit & miss every single week, no longer reliable it’s bad planning & lack of maintenance the same as Southern water, but as long as the shareholders are paid that’s all they care about. Puts me off going to the mainland thinking what will go wrong today !!! Fares keep going up though.
Just booked return on Red Funnel through a business acount £66.30. Same journey with Wightlink business account £169.00!
So when they have trouble with their ferries we pay for their mistakes?