A ferry has crashed into a ferry port, leaving passengers temporarily stranded on board and causing services to be cancelled.
Wightlink sailings between Gunwharf in Portsmouth to Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight are suspended until at least 15:20 GMT after the vessel, St Clare, struck its berth at about 08:00.
The company said the “heavy berthing incident” at Gunwharf damaged port infrastructure and the ferry.
The incident meant the ferry was “unable to load or unload vehicles or foot passengers”, the company said.
Regular passenger Roy King witnessed the impact from his vehicle as he waited to disembark and joked it was “like being on the Titanic”.
He said: “I was on the lower deck right by the front by the loading ramp and the ferry was coming in.
“Suddenly it just hit the wooden fenders and smashed into it and smashed the ramp and the fender fell into the water – they’re like big railway sleepers.
“It was quite traumatic.
“It was right next to where I was sitting in my van so I could see what was happening and it hit quite hard and the big timber just fell into the water in the harbour.”
King explained to staff what he had witnessed, adding: “Everyone was sitting in their vehicles ready to disembark so everyone was safe.
“They disembarked the top level because they have another ramp and then they had to support the [damaged] ramp and reversed the ferry out and turned it around.
“We had to reverse off the ferry. There were quite a lot of lorries on there as well, they had to reverse off.”
Wightlink operations director Gavin Marshall told BBC Radio Solent there would be an investigation.
He said: “She comes in stern first and her stern clipped the fendering and caused damage both to the ship’s prow and it also damaged our fendering.
“We are downloading all the information for the vessel but there are always so many variables.”
Marshall said Wightlink was looking at laying on additional services from Lymington and could initially restart Portsmouth-Fishbourne services from Portsmouth International Port.
“We have marine surveyors on site and we are being supported by some Solent maritime companies that are coming to our aid,” he said.
A community bus that helps Isle of Wight cancer patients attend appointments in Southampton was among those caught up in the disruption after its driver was “stuck in the middle of the Solent” following the incident.
In a Facebook post, Daisy Ring Bus said it had been unable to pick up passengers from Hovertravel in Southsea at 09:30 and 10:30 but normal service would resume from 11:30.
A Wightlink spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologise, but all sailings on our Gunwharf–Fishbourne route are cancelled until at least 3:20pm from Gunwharf and 4:20pm from Fishbourne while we assess the situation and ensure it is safe to resume operations.
“Unfortunately, we are unable to offer alternative sailings on this route before 4:20pm, but our teams are working hard to find solutions that minimise disruption for customers.
“If you have urgent travel plans, we strongly recommend making alternative arrangements where possible.”
Wightlink says its other routes are operating as normal.
