Red Funnel's main competitor is Wightlink whose services operate from Portsmouth to Fishbourne and Ryde, and from Lymington to Yarmouth.

The origins of Red Funnel date back to 1820, when the Isle of Wight Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was established by Cowes interests to operate the first steamer service from there to Southampton.

Ferries have steadily increased in size to the current Scottish-built Raptor class operated between East Cowes and Town Quay in Southampton.

[3] In 1946 Red Funnel acquired a controlling interest in Cosens & Co Ltd, a rival pleasure steamer operator based in Weymouth.

This enabled the combined company to coordinate their excursions and also gave Red Funnel access to the Cosens' marine engineering and ship repair facilities.

In 2014, plans came to light for the relocation of Red Funnel's Southampton terminal, as part of the redevelopment of the derelict Royal Pier.

[8] The plans would include relocating the vehicle and foot passenger terminals to a new site at Trafalgar Dry Dock, also known as Pier 50.

[14] In 2017 the company was sold to a consortium, including West Midlands Pension Fund and the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board.

[15][16] In the same year, construction work began on renovating and enlarging the terminal at East Cowes,[17] the first phase of which was completed in August 2018.

[18] In July 2022, Unite members at Red Funnel went on strike over pay, causing the company to have to run a reduced timetable.

[25] Between Southampton and Cowes, Red Funnel run two High Speed ferries, roughly taking 28 minutes to cross the Solent.

Red Jet 7 was lowered into the River Medina at East Cowes on 6 June 2018, and was christened during a launching ceremony on 24 July 2018.

[32] In February 2018, Red Funnel announced plans to introduce a new freight only ferry into the fleet, to coincide with the refurbishment of their facilities on both sides of the Solent.

It was built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, and was designed to have similar dimensions to Red Funnel's Raptor-class fleet, allowing it to load and unload at the same linkspan used by the other ferries.