From the Southern Daily Echo yesterday:

More cross-Solent ferry sailings have been cancelled today (Sunday), due to ongoing work on Red Funnel’s Red Eagle vehicle ferry. The vessel has engine problems, which have forced cancellations since last night.

From the Island Echo in August 2023:

Prior to this the accounts from 2017-2019 showed WL made net profits of over £50 million. So why would a company that made £50 million pure profit over the previous 3 years need to take the public’s money? Looking into those years revealed that over 90% of that profit was payout as dividends apportioned between Arca Shipping (WL’s parent company) and WL Directors.

“However, it’s only WL’s latest published accounts (2021/2022) that would reveal the accuracy behind Mr Greenfields’ claim. Firstly, it’s important to note that WL is not a public limited company, meaning the public cannot own WL shares. It’s a private limited company and so shares are owned by WL Directors and WL’s parent company Arca Shipping.

“In 2021 WL received a £9.387 million insurance payout for the reduction in revenue caused by the Covid crisis. This negated the need to claim against the taxpayer and take the public’s money. As unethical as that might appear, shockingly, barely a year later in June 2022 after WL received that huge sum from the Government, they paid themselves £8,000,000 in dividends. The obvious question is why take taxpayers’ money, if you can afford to give yourself £8 million from profits, especially given they didn’t maintain the services and took so long to return them?

Sources:

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/24330140.isle-wight-ferry-sailings-cancelled-red-funnel/

WITH PROFITS OF NEARLY £247,000 PER WEEK WIGHTLINK CERTAINLY DOES NOT NEED TO BE SUBSIDISED