Red Funnel buys fast ferry from the US

Southampton-based cross-Solent ferry operator Red Funnel’s newest fast ferry has arrived in the UK from the US and is currently being refitted in Portsmouth, before enter service later this month on the company’s Southampton-Cowes run. 

Red Jet 5 arrived in the UK from the US aboard the heavy lift ship CEC Meadow and was then towed to the former VT Halmatic shipyard at Portchester, near Portsmouth for refitting and painting by newly established Trafalgar Wharf. Built by the now closed Pequot River Shipworks in New London, Connecticut, in 1999, Red Jet 5 is a Solent-class fast ferry designed by FBM Marine, capable of carrying 187 passengers at a service speed of 35 knots. 

Southampton-based outfitting specialist Trimline is carrying out the complete interior refurbishment of the fast ferry at Trafalgar Wharf’s covered facility, which also now boasts of a fully refurbished and operational 1,000 tonne Syncrolift shiplift and transfer system. The latter is managed by Southampton-based Testbank Shiprepair. 

Red funnel recently sold its two 1991-built high speed passenger catamarans Red Jet 1 and Red Jet 2 to Caspian Mainport for operation as offshore crew boats in Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea. Sphere: Related Content