Red Funnel wins prestigious Maritime 2050 Award

Red Funnel Ferries was awarded the ‘Maritime 2050 Award’ at the Maritime UK Awards, held at a glittering ceremony at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Southampton Grand Harbour last night (19 Sept).

The prestigious award, sponsored by the Department for Transport, recognises Red Funnel’s contribution to supporting the British shipbuilding industry and championing the UK Government’s Maritime 2050 strategy, which seeks to maintain and strengthen the UK’s position as a global maritime leader.  

Of Red Funnel’s existing fleet of seven ferries, six have been built in the UK.

Most recently, Red Funnel awarded a £10 million contract to Cammell Laird, based in Birkenhead on the River Mersey, to build its new state-of-the-art freight-only ferry, Red Kestrel. This marked the third successive UK-based ship order for Red Funnel in recent years and specifically generated over 3,000 hours of apprentice work and supported 45 UK supply chain business. Red Funnel’s newest high-speed catamarans, Red Jet 6 and Red Jet 7, were built even closer to the company’s home, on the Isle of Wight at Wight Shipyard in 2016 and 2018. The orders amounted to a £13M investment into the UK economy, with much of that staying on the Isle of Wight. Some 85 skilled Island craftsmen were employed during the Red Jet builds, including several apprentices.

In addition to supporting UK shipbuilding, Red Funnel is helping to keep maintenance jobs within the UK. In April 2019, the company signed a three-year agreement with A&P Falmouth to service its vehicle ferries for routine maintenance.

Fran Collins, CEO of Red Funnel said: “We are extremely delighted to receive this prestigious award as we continue to do our part to support the British maritime industry. We believe in the UK Government’s Maritime 2050 vision of keeping the UK as a leading, global maritime nation, so we’re particularly honoured to receive this accolade. Supporting the UK maritime economy is strongly embedded in the present day ethos of Red Funnel, has been since we were founded back in 1861 and will continue to guide our actions in the future as we look to embrace new technologies towards a greener future.

The award was presented by Nusrat Ghani, Maritime Minister at the Department for Transport and was accepted by Red Funnel’s Chief Financial Officer, Graham Barnetson.

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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