Passengers travelling to and from the Isle of Wight are facing continued disruption after Wightlink confirmed its Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier Head FastCat service will remain suspended for the rest of Sunday, with several early sailings on Bank Holiday Monday also cancelled.
Wightlink says the problem has been identified as a fault with the vessel’s exhaust manifold, but repairs are taking longer than originally anticipated.
All remaining FastCat sailings between Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier Head on Sunday 30 August have been cancelled.
The disruption will now continue into Monday 31 August, with the 07:15 and 08:15 sailings from Portsmouth Harbour cancelled, along with the 07:45 departure from Ryde Pier Head.
It comes during one of the busiest weekends of the summer, with large numbers of people expected to be travelling to and from the Isle of Wight over the Bank Holiday weekend and at the end of the school summer holidays.
Wightlink said its engineering teams are continuing work to safely return the vessel to service.
Alternative travel arrangements remain in place for affected passengers.
Valid Wightlink tickets and passes will be accepted on the company’s Portsmouth to Fishbourne car ferry service.
Hovertravel is also operating services between Southsea and Ryde and will accept valid Wightlink tickets from affected foot passengers.
FastCat - Credit: BBC News Hub - Part of the Local News Partnership programme
Wightlink said: “Following further diagnostics, the issue affecting our Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier Head FastCat service has been identified as a fault with the exhaust manifold.
“Unfortunately, repairs are taking longer than initially anticipated and, as a result, the FastCat service will remain out of operation for the remainder of today, Sunday 30 August. All remaining FastCat sailings today are therefore cancelled.
“In addition, the 07:15 and 08:15 sailings from Portsmouth Harbour and the 07:45 sailing from Ryde Pier Head on Monday 31 August are also cancelled while our engineering teams continue their work to safely return the vessel to service.
“All Wightlink tickets and passes will continue to be accepted on our Portsmouth to Fishbourne car ferry service and Hovertravel will be operating services between Southsea and Ryde and happy to accept valid Wightlink tickets for affected foot passengers.
“If there are any changes to this situation or services can resume earlier than expected, we will provide a further update as soon as possible.
“We sincerely apologise for the disruption to your travel plans and thank you for your patience and understanding.”
The FastCat normally provides a direct passenger link between Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier Head, with a crossing time of around 22 minutes.
Passengers planning to travel on Sunday evening or early on Bank Holiday Monday are being advised to check the latest service information before beginning their journey.
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