Home | Towing the Red Kestrel Ro-Ro Ferry
Willpower towing Red Kestrel into Southampton

30th April 2019

Towing the Red Kestrel Ro-Ro Ferry

Posted by: Victoria Williams / under:

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Red Kestrel, the new Red Funnel freight ferry, was towed by Willpower from the shipyard in Liverpool to Southampton in April.

Red Kestrel

The Red Kestrel is a new £10m ro-ro freight ferry, built by UK shipbuilder Cammell Laird. The ship is designed to provide additional capacity for freight moving to and from East Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

Red Kestrel is 74m in length with 17m moulded beam and a gross tonnage of 1070t. She provides 265 lane metres of roll-on/roll-off capacity- sufficient for 12 articulated lorries.

While Red Kestrel could, in theory, have powered her own way down the west coast, she does not have the necessary classification for this type of journey. Additionally, Willpower was able to tow her faster than she could have managed under her own power.

The tow

Red Kestrel left Birkenhead under tow of Willpower late on Friday 11th. The original schedule should have seen her arrive in Southampton on Sunday 13st, but strong winds along the south coast would have made the journey unsafe. The two sheltered over the weekend in Milford Haven, where Williams Shipping has an office and berthing.

Ships are not always easy to tow, but Willpower was able to make good time on the second leg of the journey and they reached Southampton Wednesday evening. Red Kestrel was officially named on 25th April.

Photo credit: Maritime Filming

  • I just wanted to say thank you – it was a very challenging site to work at and make delivery to. Your drivers showed courtesy, patience and professionalism throughout the day

    Philip Kingston,
    Kingston Building Solutions

  • Thank you for your assistance, it was very much appreciated and a special thank you to Bob who did a fantastic job.

    Jenny Wilkinson,
    Interserve Defence Ltd

  • We are very happy with the service provided by your company, especially the driver and we will be using your company for any future work.

    Bob Sarkar,
    National Gritting Service

  • I would like to personally thank you, as a company, and every one of your drivers for their professional approach to the deliveries to our site, all of your drivers have been absolutely fantastic.

    Andy Jenner,
    EP Renewable Energies Limited

  • On Behalf of the Environment Agency and the Residents of Romsey and Winchester, I would like to convey our warmest gratitude for the support you provided during recent flooding. Without you we would not have been able to respond as quickly or effectively as we did.

    James A Humphrys,
    Environment Agency

  • We would like to thank yourself and your team at Williams Shipping for all your help last week, your team were great at getting us around and in position where and when we needed to be in spite of some rotten weather.

    Cliff Stonestreet,
    Fully Fused Fireworks Worldwide Event Management

  • Thank you very much for your assistance and I have to say the two crew members on the vessel could not have been more helpful.

    Steve Beck,
    Burgess Marine

  • May I take this opportunity to thank you for an excellent service, could you also please pass on my thanks to all of your skippers who have helped us over the past few weeks.

    Gwyn Goforth,
    Svitzer UK