Prestigious award nomination for Red Funnel Ferries
Thu, Aug 22 2019
Red Funnel Ferries is pleased to announce that it has been shortlisted for Maritime UK’s Maritime 2050 Award, in recognition of its work in supporting British shipbuilding.
A proud British brand with a long maritime history, Red Funnel’s roots date back to 1861. Since then, Red Funnel has always taken pride in doing its part to keep Britain on the map as a global maritime leader.
Most recently, Red Funnel awarded a £10 million contract to Cammell Laird, based in Birkenhead on the River Mersey, to build its new state-of-the-art freight-only ferry, Red Kestrel. This marked the third successive UK-based ship order for Red Funnel, following the build of its newest high-speed catamarans, Red Jet 6 and Red Jet 7, both of which were built on the Isle of Wight at Wight Shipyard in 2016 and 2018, investing £13M into the UK economy, much of that staying right on the Island. Some 85 skilled Island craftsmen were employed during the Red Jet builds, including several apprentices.
Fran Collins, CEO of Red Funnel said: “We’re extremely proud to work within the British maritime industry and as a business, we work hard to help it grow. Our last three ship builds have been evidence of that.
“Supporting the UK economy is embedded in the ethos of Red Funnel. During the Red Kestrel build alone, we supported 45 supply chain businesses and generated over 3,000 hours of apprentice work, so it is wonderful news that our efforts towards the Maritime 2050 strategy have been recognised by this nomination. We’re incredibly proud of this achievement.”
In addition to supporting UK shipbuilding, Red Funnel is also helping to keep maintenance jobs in the UK. In April 2019, the company signed a three-year agreement with A&P Falmouth to service its vehicle ferries for routine maintenance.
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For further information regarding Red Funnel, please contact:
Lisa Norman or Kirsti Pawlowski at McKenna Townsend
T: 01425 472330
About Red Funnel
Red Funnel is the original Isle of Wight ferry company with roots tracing back to 1820. Based in the UK port of Southampton, Red Funnel carries 2.3m passengers and over 800,000 vehicles on its ferry route between the UK port of Southampton and East Cowes and 1.1m passengers between Southampton and West Cowes on its Red Jet Hi-Speed service. In addition to ferry travel, Red Funnel is the only cross-Solent operator to offer ferry inclusive bonded holiday accommodation, attraction tickets, festival and event tickets and activity packages. Sub-brands include ‘Red Jet’ (the Hi-Speed passenger only ferry service serving West Cowes) and two food & beverage brands, ‘Steam Coffee Company’ and ‘ReFuel’. The Company is a founder member of Visit Isle of Wight Ltd, the Island’s not for profit destination management organisation and Red Funnel sponsors or supports most of the Island’s premier events including the IW Festival, Cowes Week, Isle of Arts, The Red Funnel IW Literary Festival, IW Newport Jazz Festival, Isle Walk Festival, Ventnor Fringe Festival and Wolverton Manor Garden Show as well as a range of community and niche interest events. Red Funnel’s 2019 Charity of the Year is Mountbatten Hospice, Isle of Wight.
For more information visit: www.redfunnel.co.uk