Cross-Solent operator, Wightlink, has announced the next phase of its multimillion pound fender replacement plan at Fishbourne - with some disruption expected to sailings.
The final stage in replacing the fenders that aid berthing at Fishbourne port will take place in autumn 2023. The first four have already been replaced, the remaining three will be done in the last week of September.
Wightlink Chief Executive Keith Greenfield says:
“This is a major investment by Wightlink in our round-the-clock Portsmouth to Fishbourne route. Our car ferries use the fenders dozens of times a day to berth safely and it is now time to replace all of them.
"We will endeavour to keep noise and disturbance to a minimum. However, some sailings will need to be cancelled and we are sorry if customers are inconvenienced by this essential work.”
Each fender weighs eight tons. They are made of timber and rubber, coated with plastic and measure nine metres by 1.2 metres by one metre. The old fenders were installed in 1984 and will be recycled.
During the first weekend in September there will be preparation work ahead of the fender replacements and some evening and overnight car ferry sailings will be cancelled. This has been scheduled to take advantage of extremely low tides at this time of the year.
On Saturday 2 September, the 06:00 and 18:00 from Portsmouth Gunwharf to Fishbourne and 07:00 and 19:00 from Fishbourne to Portsmouth Gunwharf will be cancelled.
On Sunday 3 September, the 18:40 and 19:20 from Gunwharf to Fishbourne and 19:40 and 20:20 from Fishbourne to Gunwharf will be cancelled.
At the end of September, the final three fenders will be replaced, with divers and contractors supporting Wightlink staff.
The Portsmouth Gunwharf to Fishbourne route will be closed overnight from 00:01 to 05:40 from Tuesday 26 September to Sunday 1 October inclusive.
These extra car ferry services will operate on these days:
Portsmouth Gunwharf to Fishbourne: 21:00, 23:00, 05:00
Fishbourne to Portsmouth Gunwharf: 22:00, 23:59, 06:00
In addition, there will be extra FastCat sailings at 04:15 from Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier and 04:45 from Ryde Pier from Tuesday 26 September to Friday 29 September.
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