Wightlink Isle of Wight Ferry Services

Wightlink Ferries provide ferries between the Isle of Wight and mainland England. They provide visitors and residents with fast, frequent service to and from the island. More than 5 million passengers utilise Wightlink’s service annually.

In 2008, Wightlink introduced two new vessels to service their route between Lymington and Yarmouth, with a third ferry added in 2009. These new ships are more fuel efficient and have improved passenger facilities. Their older ferries could not be refitted economically and made to comply with new regulation requirements. These new ferries are configured to carry the changing passenger dynamic. Each one carries 350 pedestrian passengers instead of the current 500 and an additional 13 vehicles per voyage. The three new ships are named the Wight Light, Wight Sky, and Wight Sun. Each one will make over 200,000 crossings during its operational life, covering more than 750,000 nautical miles.

These three new ships were only part of a £57 million investment programme initiated to upgrade Wightlink’s service to the Isle of Wight. Another part of this fleet improvement was their 2009 addition of a new generation of catamarans. These will carry green passports verified by Lloyd’s Register throughout their life. Improvements to the company computer systems as well as the Ryde Harbor terminal are slated for the near future. Upgrades to Gunwharf and Portsmouth Harbour terminals have already been completed.

The three new ferries were designed by Hart Fenton, a naval architect. Construction took place in Croatia at the Brodogrdiliste Kraljevica shipyard. Each has a comfortable, modern interior produced by LAP Architects of Billericay, Essex, UK. Loaded displacement of these ferries is 75% more than Wightlink’s current C-Class ferries; they will meet or exceed the new building requirements.

These new Wightlink R-Class vessels are 62.4 meters long. Their maximum displacement is 2,494 tons with a capacity of eight lanes which can hold 65 cars or 28 freight vehicles. The newly acquired ships include a lift between the car deck and passenger deck for the benefit of disabled and elderly passengers. The space that used to be a third deck on the older C-class ferries has been incorporated into increasing the space and comfort of the passenger areas.

Wightlink’s route between Lymington and Yarmouth takes 30 minutes to cover allowing for 37 sailings per day. It takes 35 minutes to cover the sea route between Portsmouth and Fishbourne which has 39 trips scheduled daily. Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde is a 15 minute jaunt offered on 41 sailings daily. Last minute sailing plans to the Isle of Wight can easily be accommodated by using any of these quick, frequent routes provided by Wightlink.

From Portsmouth, travelers can make direct connections to London Waterloo, Brighton, Bristol and Southampton; and on the Isle of Wight, Ryde Island Line services take holiday tourists to Brading, Sandown and Shankin. National Express Coaches and local bus service also access the Portsmouth Harbour Terminal.