Red Funnel’s new freight ferry has arrived in Southampton

18 April 2019 — Red Kestrel, the newest addition to Red Funnel’s fleet, has just arrived at her new home in Southampton early this morning (Thursday 18 April, Berth 48, 07:30am).

The new freight-only Ro-Ro (roll on-roll off) vessel, sailed away from Cammell Laird’s famous River Mersey shipyard last week, following 14-months in development. Her arrival into the Solent was assisted by tug, Willpower, giving her crew a well-deserved rest following successful sea trails, and guaranteeing Red Kestrel’s safe, on-time arrival.

Fran Collins, CEO of Red Funnel, said, “We are all very excited to have welcomed Red Kestrel to her new home in Southampton ahead of her official naming ceremony next week.

“The addition of a new ship is always an exciting time for everyone at Red Funnel. We’re thrilled that not only will Red Kestrel increase our total capacity but will be Red Funnel's first dedicated Ro-Ro freight ship since the company’s inception almost 160 years ago.”

Red Kestrel will operate between Southampton and the Isle of Wight and will officially enter service in May. As a freight vessel, she is limited to 12 passengers and constructed specifically to provide additional year-round freight capacity for Red Funnel’s Southampton to East Cowes route, which currently handles 53 per cent of all freight movements across the Solent.

At 74m in length, she will provide 265 lane metres of Ro-Ro freight capacity. To minimise the environmental footprint, the hull shape has been designed specifically to reduce wash and a propulsion package has been selected to make her highly fuel efficient, whilst meeting the latest Tier III emission regulations. The use of proven azimuth thrusters supplied by Rolls Royce will also make the ship very manoeuvrable. Red Kestrel will use the same berths as Red Funnel’s existing Raptor class ro-pax vehicle ferries in Southampton and East Cowes.

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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