Red Funnel chief executive James Fulford.
WIGHT LIVINGJAMES Fulford had hardly squeezed his knees under his Red Funnel desk when news of our MP seeking an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation into the ferry companies drifted his way.
"It was my first day, I believe, that I learned the OFT was coming in and I welcomed it. It really got me to know the business inside out, very quickly. And we were very pleased, and not necessarily surprised, at the OFT findings," said the ferry company’s chief executive officer of five months.
It was a steep learning curve, even for a 47-year-old bloke who has lived and breathed marketing and all that stuff for most of his working life.
He had winged his way to Southampton from Sydney, where he had been charged with marketing a much bigger island. Here he positively relishes the challenge of getting this Island to like a ferry company.
Now that’s the tallest of tall shipping orders.
Ever the marketing man pointing out positives, Fulford, who has had connections with the Island since he was a nipper and lives in Cowes during the week, flags up much from the OFT findings with some satisfaction.
He hopes the Island will take note that the impartial snapshot of the service, and the cost to the travelling public of what the three operators provide, was powerful exoneration. Maybe.
He was delighted the OFT blew out of the water the urban myth that The Solent was the dearest stretch of water in the world to travel.
In fact, Red Funnel is shown as mid-table in the commercial league of cost per kilometre and cheaper than some subsidised routes elsewhere.
He’s pretty pleased that reliability and, more particularly, frequency of service (crossing The Solent every eight minutes) was taken on board by the OFT.
He hopes the Island will swallow the fact that because his company runs so many ferries people can travel when they wish.
He points to the average car ferry being just 30 per cent full, an expense that contributes to Red Funnel making a six per cent return against a capital base that would cost £100 million to replace. He hopes that will wash.
"If we were a high street business and went to a bank to borrow against a six per cent return we would be laughed at," he says.
He emphatically denies his company’s fares are at artificially high levels because InfraCapital, the fund run by M&G, which bought the company, did so at too high a price.
"Fares are determined by competition and by when people travel. Competition is fierce. We are running a 24/7, 364-day-a-year service — and it is, quite simply, cut-throat," he says.
He’s firmly in favour of competition, however that may come, but believes service would suffer if a third operator was to wash-up on our shores.
"There would be roughly the same revenue but split three ways. Would operators continue to run services with few cars and passengers on board? Probably not."
One of his many messages is that Island people need to travel smarter. By avoiding popular crossings when they can, by planning ahead and by bulk ticket purchase on-line there are substantial savings out there, he says.
"If you wanted to turn up on the day and fly out of Heathrow, a £100 pre-booked flight would cost you £600. Our message is that the last ten per cent of our car ferry capacity is sold at the highest price."
One of the messages he believes has sunk without trace is the self same one that his erstwhile counterpart at Wightlink, Andrew Willson, transmitted before he parted with the company.
It is that car ferry fares have risen more slowly than the benchmark for the transport industry and passenger fares have gone up in line with the Retail Price Index, while in the last ten years costs have gone up more than inflation, especially fuel on the Red Jets.
What he does accept is that in the past Red Funnel has not been especially bright in getting positive messages across. It’s part of his mission to put that right.
Things like spending £1 million a year advertising "Brand IW" is not widely known, he thinks. He accepts Red Funnel does not do that out of goodness of heart.
If Island tourism flourishes people will need to travel here. If people do that they will pay his company for the privilege.
It is from the summer visitors that his company makes nearly all its profit and the marketing mission Fulford is on is to inject pleasure into the travelling experience.
Southampton-based singer Benji is set to play a part in that, entertaining travellers with Queen covers and tunes from the musical Grease.
He won the £1,000 top prize in a Red Funnel and County Press sponsored Red Hot Talent show and will take to the passenger lounge stage in July.
Fulford has an entertainment as well as a marketing background and believes that the two belong together, making the journey to the Island a transport of delight, not just a means to an end.
He points to the wasted opportunity where in the past ferries skated past grand cruise liners and some of the world’s biggest supertankers with no accompanying public address information. That’s all changed.
But he accepts some commuters don’t want that, or indeed some Freddie Mercury soundalike. They want to get where they want to, when they want to and at a fair fare.
He also accepts they probably don’t want to know Titanic was towed out of Southampton on her ill-fated maiden voyage — by none other than Red Funnel.