VEHICLES TRAPPED ON RED FUNNEL FERRY AS DOOR FAILS TO OPEN – KNOCK ON DELAYS FOR CROSS-SOLENT ROUTE

The weekend has got off to a bad start for Red Funnel customers with vehicles trapped on board Red Eagle for an hour – which has in turn led to delays for those leaving the Island. It’s understood a technical issue with the main deck door led to lorries and other large vehicles becoming stuck on the ferry – which departed Southampton at 04:30 – upon arrival in East Cowes. Red Eagle only returned from a refit in Falmouth 2 days ago and has already been hit with a breakdown. Furthermore, the onboard ovens are not working (meaning there is no hot food on board) and even the coffee machines have packed up. Although the vehicles have now been offloaded, the door issue hasn’t been fully resolved meaning the ferry has departed for Southampton with the main deck out of action. Larger vehicles unable to use the top deck have been left behind, having been sat at the terminal since 05:30. This morning’s delays will impact on deliveries to companies such as Evri, McDonalds and Morrisons. Those travelling to the mainland on the scheduled 06:00 sailing from East Cowes will now arrive at their destination 45 minutes later than planned, impacting weekend plans. Red Osprey, operating the 06:00 from Southampton, can now dock on time at East Cowes so it is anticipated the 07:30 will operate as timetabled. There is also disruption on the company’s hi-speed service between West Cowes and Southampton with a revised timetable operating until Tuesday, due to a breakdown. Earlier this week the cross-Solent operator confirmed it was looking to replace its aging Raptor-class ferries, which are now 30 years old. However, that is likely to be several years away and in the meantime the technical breakdowns continue.