Fender upgrades at Fishbourne port set for completion

By Tom Kilkelly

4 September 2023

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The Business Magazine article image for: Fender upgrades at Fishbourne port set for completion

Approaching Fishbourne's Car Ferry Terminal by Shazz, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Ferry company Wightlink is preparing itself for the completion of its multi-million pound fender replacement project at Fishbourne port on the Isle of Wight.

The project is due to conclude in autumn this year, the first four fenders have already been replaced and the final three should be in place by the final week of September.

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.

Wightlink Chief Executive, Keith Greenfield, said: “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.”

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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.

The Portsmouth Gunwharf to Fishbourne route will be closed overnight from midnight to 05:40 from Tuesday 26 September to Sunday 1 October.

By Tom Kilkelly

Tom Kilkelly started working as a freelance journalist for The Business Magazine following his graduation from UCL in 2022.

During his studies Tom became very interested in the works of Irish authors including Samuel Beckett and Flann O'Brien (Brian O'Nolan).

His current role as a freelance business reporter is his first exposure to the world of business journalism. Working at TBM has given Tom the chance to really get to grips with the goings-on in the business hive that is the South East.