About Red Funnel
Red Funnel Group
Red Funnel was formed in 1861 as the ‘Original Isle of Wight ferry operator’. Today, we carry 3.4M passengers and 860,000 vehicles across the Solent each year. The Company operates 365 days a year, with 30,000 sailings between Southampton on the UK mainland and East and West Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Our fleet consists of modern purpose-built Ro-Pax vehicle ferries and Red Jet Hi-Speed passenger catamarans. Catering and retail services are provided in-house.
Red Funnel Holidays
Red Funnel Holidays offer a wide range of year-round ferry inclusive holidays and short breaks on the Isle of Wight, with options to purchase attraction tickets, event and festival tickets, through rail, and National Express coach tickets.
The Red Funnel Group is wholly owned by a consortium of British and Canadian Pension Funds.
Our Management Team
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
- Chief Executive Officer: Fran Collins
- Interim Finance Lead: Sean Cleary
- Commercial Director: Lee Hudson
- Operations Director: Leanna Lakes
- Human Resources Director: Debbie Reed
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
- Chairman: Stephen Ridgway CBE
- Iain Delaney
- Erik Østergaard
OPERATIONS
- Head of Passenger Operations: Kay Andrews
- Shore Operations Manager: Tareck Ahmed
- Resource Manager: Sarah Holehouse
- Head of Operations: Stuart Tan
- Technical Superintendent (Ferries): Chris Hoadley
- Technical Superintendent (Hi-Speed & Infrastructure):
- F&B Retail Operations Manager: Lewis Grant
- Passenger Operations Services Manager: Tim Fradgley
- Passenger Services & Commercial Support Manager: Debra Norris
COMMERCIAL
- Head of Revenue Management: Alexander Strong
- Head of Communications: Donna Gudowski
- Head of Marketing: Oli Whitehurst
- Head of Commercial Retail, F&B: David Christie
- Sales Development Manager: Sarah Dawson
- Freight Travel Centre Manager: Sarah Drackford
SUPPORT
- Head of Projects & Strategic Development: Claire Loon
- Head of Commercial Finance: Peter Newey
- Head of Corporate Finance: Stuart Le Tissier
- Head of Safety & compliance: Helena Benton
- HR Manager: Cathy Doust
Performance
Red Funnel operates approximately 18,600 Red Jet Hi-Speed sailings and 11,800 passenger vehicle ferry sailings each year. The Company is committed to delivering a safe, reliable, punctual, and affordable service that’s rated highly for customer satisfaction. We endeavour to operate the published timetable regardless of load factor but unfortunately some cancellations are inevitable due to weather and unforeseen technical issues. All technical cancellations are investigated and a continuous improvement process is in place.
Reliability / punctuality based on advertised timetable:
| JUNE | VEHICLE FERRY | HI-SPEED FERRY |
| Reliability | 99.06% | 97.78% |
| Punctuality | 88.84% | 96.83% |
| JULY | VEHICLE FERRY | HI-SPEED FERRY |
| Reliability | 95.21% | 99.37% |
| Punctuality | 81.10% | 97.07% |
| AUGUST | VEHICLE FERRY | HI-SPEED FERRY |
| Reliability | 87.95% | 99.21% |
| Punctuality | 66.70% | 94.73% |
Reliability based on cancellations made with 4 days (or more) notice:
| Route | 24 July - 27 August | Year to date (2024) |
| VEHICLE FERRY | 91.70% | 95.56% |
| HI-SPEED FERRY | 98.87% | 94.71% |
Awards
