Red Jet 7 marks one-year of service

Red Funnel’s Hi-Speed passenger catamaran, Red Jet 7 marks one-year of service in the Solent during which she has travelled over 84,000 nautical miles, completed 3,615 round trips and nearly half a million passenger journeys.

Red Jet 7 joined the Red Funnel fleet on July 17, 2018, and like her sister, Red Jet 6, was built on the Isle of Wight by Wight Shipyard Co. representing a £7m investment by Red Funnel.

Red Jet 7, which to date has spent almost 3,000 hours at sea, was officially launched in July last year with a prestigious naming ceremony when HRH The Duchess of Cornwall officially named the new ferry with the traditional formality of breaking a bottle of champagne on the bow.

Red Jet 7 is the greenest ferry within the Red Jet group; she utilises new technology to reduce her environmental footprint, and at four tons lighter than Red Jet 6, she has improved fuel consumption which further reduces emissions.

Commenting on the one-year anniversary of Red Jet 7, Red Funnel CEO, Fran Collins, said: “The launch of Red Jet 7 was another proud day in Red Funnel’s history. We take great pride in our commitment to supporting British shipbuilding and are particularly proud of the fact that she was built on the Island, for the Island, utilising the skills of more than 85 Island-based expert craftsmen.

“In her first 12 months of operation, Red Jet 7 has a earned reliability score of 99 per cent and a punctuality score of 93 per cent, meaning that 99 per cent of all our scheduled crossings went ahead as planned and 93 per cent of crossings departed and arrived on time, with the majority of the shortfall due to adverse weather conditions such as fog and strong winds. Overall, she’s had a very successful first year and we look forward to many more, especially as we now head into our summer season and concurrently mark another big anniversary – 50 years of hi-speed service, which we’re marking with The Red Funnel Fireworks at Cowes Week on the 16th of August. We can’t wait!”

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For further information regarding Red Funnel, please contact:

Lisa Norman or Kirsti Pawlowski at McKenna Townsend

T: 01425 472330

E: [email protected]

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