FERRIES
Wight elephant
THE sale of struggling Isle of Wight ferry company Red Funnel to private equity firm Njord Partners was announced at the end of September, but despite frustrations with the abominable ferry service, locals are hoping the sale might be blocked due to national security concerns.
Last year, the island’s then MP Bob Seely said Red Funnel CEO Fran Collins should “either run a bloody service or get somebody else to do so” after it emerged that all three of the fast Red Jet services, the freight-only Red Kestrel and most of the larger slow ferries were out of action at the same time due to various technical issues, causing major bottlenecks getting on and off the island. The ferries carry more than 2m passengers a year.