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World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

A public reference property of Baalvion

Open data · every figure carries its source

World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

ferry shipping

Red Funnel

Headquarters: Southampton
Founded: 1861
Employees: 500

Official website

Photo: Ronald Saunders from Warrington, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0 · file

Ships in this registry

Counted from individual vessel records · Wikidata

Reported fleet size

—

No published figure available

Container capacity

—

Not a ranked container line

Gross tonnage on record

1,580

Summed over 2 ships reporting tonnage

In brief

What Red Funnel is

Full article ↗

Red Funnel, the trading name of the Southampton Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Limited, is a ferry company that carries passengers, vehicles and freight on routes between the English mainland and the Isle of Wight. High-speed foot passenger catamarans, known as Red Jets, run between Southampton and Cowes, while vehicle ferries run between Southampton and East Cowes. It also runs the ferry between Southampton and Hythe.
Red Funnel's main competitor is Wightlink whose services operate from Portsmouth to Fishbourne and Ryde, and from Lymington to Yarmouth. The other major Solent ferry company, Hovertravel, operates between Southsea and Ryde. Both provide a frequent service to the Isle of Wight, but neither normally serve Southampton, Cowes or East Cowes.

Corporate profile

Identity and registration

Legal name: —
Industry: ferry shipping
Legal form: limited company
Country of registration: United Kingdom
Headquarters: Southampton
Formed in: —
Founded: 1861
Dissolved: —
Employees: 500
Head office coordinates: 50.9067, -1.4044

Ships on record here: 2
Vessel types operated: 2
Flag states used: 2
Average vessel age: 30.0 years
Oldest vessel on record: 1976
Newest vessel on record: 2016
Largest vessel by tonnage: 1,220
Average tonnage: 790
Market share: —
Parent company: —
Alliance: —
Record source: wikidata
Last refreshed: 2026-09-05

Fleet on record

What this company sails

Composition of the 2 vessels this registry attributes to Red Funnel. Bars are true proportions of that set, not of the company's full fleet.

By vessel type

By flag state

By shipbuilder

Havyard Ship Technology1

Wight Shipyard1

Delivery history

10-year fleet record

Ships delivered in each of the last 10 years, counted from the recorded build year of vessels attributed to this company, with the running total of its fleet on record. No deliveries fall inside this window — this company’s vessels on record were all built earlier.

Year	Gross tonnage added	Fleet on record
2017	—	2
2018	—	2
2019	—	2
2020	—	2
2021	—	2
2022	—	2
2023	—	2
2024	—	2
2025	—	2
2026	—	2

Vessel records

Ships on record

2 vessels

Ship	IMO	Type	Flag	Built	Gross tonnage	Deadweight	Length	Builder
Bergen Castle	7523300	Unclassified	Norway	1976	1,220	—	66.0 m	Havyard Ship Technology
Red Jet 6	9788083	Ferry	United Kingdom	2016	360	—	41.0 m	Wight Shipyard

Ships in registry counts individual vessel records attributed to the company here. Reported fleet is the company’s published total. They measure different things and are shown separately on purpose.

In context

How Red Funnel compares

Counts over companies and vessels actually held in this directory — not over the world fleet, which is larger. Nothing here is estimated.

With 2 vessels attributed to it here, Red Funnel is the 341st largest of the 965 operators in this directory that hold at least one ship on record, against a median of 2 across that group. That is a count of individually identified hulls, not the company’s published fleet size — the two are different measurements and both are shown above where available.

United Kingdom is the country of registration for 97 commercial operators in this directory, among which Red Funnel ranks 26th by ships on record. Between them those companies hold 260 vessels here. See every operator registered in United Kingdom.

Founded in 1861, Red Funnel is 165 years old. This directory holds 33 operators founded within five years either side of that date, whose median fleet on record is 1 ships. The median founding year across all commercial operators here is 1966, and the oldest on record dates to 1514.