FERRY bosses are to cherry-pick some of the south's biggest tourist attractions before they re-introduce a catamaran service between Gosport and Southampton.

Red Funnel is looking to bring back its two high-speed 138-seater and 190 seater capacity vessels during Cowes Week and the Southampton Boat Show.

An announcement will be made in March about the finer details of the new timetables.

The move comes after fewer passengers than expected made use of the pilot service in the run-up to Christmas.

The catamarans were re-introduced following the success of the first pilot project during last year's Southampton Boat Show.

Red Funnel's marketing director Olive Glass, pictured, said: "We did not achieve the same volume of passengers as during the boat show.

"Christmas shopping was really on a bit of a back foot last year as the retail results now show.

"People were seeking better value for money and waiting for the sales.

"The weather wasn't very good either."

She said many of the passengers on board completed customer satisfaction surveys that were now being reviewed.

"Now we are looking at the possibility of re-introducing the service to coincide with big even-ts like Cowes Week."

The catamaran service between Gosport Pon-toon and Town Quay started at the beginning of November and finished at the beginning of this month.

Taking 35 minutes and costing £10 it proved a welcome alternative to the motorway and rail service for regular commuters as well as Christmas shoppers and tourists.

Gosport councillor Peter Edgar, a member of the South East Hampshire Transport Panel and Tourism South East, said it was inevitable demand would not be as high in the winter.

"Red Funnel have a positive approach to this scheme. It's very difficult to start up a new service in the winter but I am sure when the weather is more attractive shoppers and commuters will want to use the service."

Both Southampton and Portsmouth Chambers of Commerce support the continuation of the catamaran service linking the two south coast cities by water for the first time.