ISLE of Wight Festival-goers heading to the Island and visitors planning return journeys are facing disruption amid a string of Wightlink FastCat cancellations.
The company says an "ongoing technical issue" on board Wight Ryder I has forced it to pull multiple sailings on the busy Portsmouth Harbour to Ryde Pier Head route.
Cancellations include the 11.45am, 12.45pm and 1.45pm departures from Portsmouth Harbour, as well as the 11.15am, 12.15pm, 1.15pm and 2.15pm services from Ryde Pier Head.
The disruption comes at a peak time for Island travel, with thousands of festival-goers making their way to the Isle of Wight for the event.
Wightlink says all tickets and passes will be accepted on alternative FastCat sailings, as well as its Portsmouth to Fishbourne car ferry route.
In a statement, the operator said the decision was necessary to allow engineers time to resolve the fault and apologised to passengers for the inconvenience caused.
"This action is necessary to allow our teams time to work on repairing the issue and safely return the vessel to service as soon as possible," a spokesperson said.
Passengers are being advised to allow extra time for their journeys and check for the latest updates before travelling.
UPDATED 1.09pm:
Wightlink's FastCat sailings at quarter to the hour from Ryde and quarter past the hour from Portsmouth Harbour are "running without issue".
However, the service is running once an hour, instead of the scheduled once every 30 minutes, the company posted.
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