WIGHTLINK bosses have pledged that the future of one of its cross-Solent routes is safe – despite a sharp fall in passenger figures.

The number of people using the Lymington to Yarmouth car ferry service has dropped by almost 15 per cent over the past four years.

Passengers are switching to the company’s Ports-mouth to Ryde and Fish-bourne services, plus Red Funnel’s Southampton to Cowes route.

Last night Wightlink denied the Lymington to Yarmouth service was under threat, saying it was “committed” to the link.

But one of the new W-class ferries is moving from Lymington to Fishbourne to reflect changing demand, resulting in fewer sailings between the New Forest and the Isle of Wight.

The vessel will replace an older car ferry called St Helen, which is being retired after 31 years.

St Helen was involved in an incident in July, when a car deck collapsed on to the deck below, injuring four people.

However, a Wightlink spokesman said St Helen was being retired because of its age.

Announcing the changes, he said the company’s modernisation programme had seen the introduction of five new ships in the past five years.

“Although Wightlink has operated three ships on the Yarmouth-Lymington route in recent years, the third ferry operates just three round trips a day for half the year, providing just eight per cent of capacity on the route,” he said.

Chief operating officer John Burrows said: “Using our fleet as efficiently as possible is vital if we’re to continue our programme of modernisation and investment. To secure the future of our service we have a responsibility to match capacity with demand.

“Despite considerable price discounting, adapting our timetable to provide better train connections, improved punctuality and continued high reliability, demand is falling on our Yarmouth to Lymington route, with passengers preferring to use other routes.

“As a result of these changes customers on our Fishbourne-Portsmouth route will enjoy a more|modern ship.”

The number of daily round trips between Lymington and Yarmouth during the summer will drop from 20 to 17 following the decision to move one of the W-class ferries to Fishbourne.

But Mr Burrows said the impact on passengers would be “minimal”.