Wightlink boss calls service 'one of the most reliable' in the UK
It's after Isle of Wight MP Bob Seeley called for tighter regulations on cross-Solent ferry services
The boss of ferry firm, Wightlink, has said it is one of the most reliable transport companies in the UK.
The organisation has released figures showing that fewer than 1% of sailing were cancelled in the last year.
It is in response to Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely who has accused Cross Solent travel firms of failing passengers.
On Tuesday 26th March, Mr Seely held a debate in Westminster Hall calling for tighter regulations following months of cancellations, rising ticket prices and delays on both Wightlink and Red Funnel.
He said: “I will come straight to the point: the relationship between the ferry firms and the people of the Isle of Wight is breaking down. The ferries are a genuine lifeline; we have no choice but to use them. There is no public service obligation. We need to get a better deal.”
Mr Seely went on to highlight the problems: “First, as I have said, the ferry firms have no legal obligation to meet timetables or standards of service above the minimum levels of safety required in law. The Island’s connectivity is entirely at the discretion of the firms, which are answerable to—and overwhelmingly driven by—the needs of their shareholders.”
“They have no public service obligation and no regulator, and they set their own service standards.”
“Secondly, the firms’ corporate structures and incredibly inflated valuations are becoming a critical issue for the Island. I also believe they are bad for the United Kingdom.”
However, in a statement, the Wightlink Chief Executive Keith Greenfield said: "Wightlink welcomes debate about how ferry services can be further improved for the benefit of Islanders and understands that the topics of fares and timetables will always be important discussion points.
"Wightlink engages consistently with customers by conducting thousands of surveys every month and holding regular Island Link Forum meetings. In direct response to customer feedback, Wightlink has recently increased the number of sailings in 2024 on the Yarmouth-Lymington route, introduced a cap on NHS travel fares for travel at any time of the year and enabled discounted Multilink tickets to be used more widely across households on sailings throughout the year.
"However, it is highly inaccurate for the Island’s MP to accuse Wightlink of having a slow pace of investment, with ships that are ‘subject to repeated mechanical and technical faults.’
"Out of 35,583 scheduled sailings in the last 12 months, 215 were cancelled (less than 1%) a performance which puts Wightlink among the most reliable transport operators anywhere in the UK.
"We have invested more than £90million over the last 10 years giving us one of the most modern fleets in the country - including the UK’s first large hybrid electric ferry, Victoria of Wight, launched in 2018. The average age of our ferries is 18 years, compared to a design life of 35 years.
"We are always open to ideas on how ferry services are run, but for this process to be constructive the MP also needs to recognise Wightlink’s starting point is not as he describes. Our customers have already done this by voting us into first place as Best UK Ferry Operator in 2023 in the British Travel Awards, the country’s largest customer travel survey."