NEWS that a new fast ferry is to be built for Southampton-based Red Funnel is to be welcomed for more than just the fact it will secure the future of the services to the Isle of Wight.

The £6m project also sees a return to ferry-building here in the south.

The new catamaran will be built on the Isle of Wight and create dozens of new jobs.

The message is also clear, the shipbuilding on this scale is still possible here on the coast.

Whether this order will lead to more similar projects, we will have to wait and see, but as markers go this is a bold and significant act.

With the demise of the Vosper shipbuilding yards in Southampton there has been much talk of returning marine industry on this scale to the coast, but too little evidence.

Now we have two companies - Red Funnel and shipbuilders Shemara Refit - who are prepared to invest in the future.

The Red Funnel announcement shows that the confidence is still there to invest in this once-important industry that employed thousands.

That large-scale shipbuilding could return to the Solent is doubtful. Yet from small acorns great industries can be born.