Red Funnel ferries

Red Funnel

Red Funnel calls itself the original Isle of Wight ferry company, with roots that go back to 1820. The company in its present form dates from the early 1860s, when it was set up as the Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, better known today by the colour of its funnels.

It carries around 2.3 million passengers and more than 800,000 vehicles a year on the car ferry between Southampton and East Cowes, and about 1.1 million passengers on the Red Jet, the fast passenger-only catamaran between Southampton and West Cowes. The conventional ferries, including the Red Falcon and the Red Osprey, entered service in 1994, the Red Jets followed, and a dedicated freight ferry, the Red Kestrel, arrived in 2019.

In late September 2025 the company was acquired by the investment firm Njord Partners, after several years of financial pressure, and its owners have said they intend to put it back on a sound footing.