Marine Atlantic

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Marine Atlantic
Type Crown Corporation
Founded Moncton, New Brunswick (1986)
Headquarters St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
Key people Roger Flood, President & CEO
Industry Transportation
Products Ferry service
Revenue ▲$68.47 million CAN
Employees 1,200 (2005)
Website www.marine-atlantic.ca/
Marine Atlantic ferry ports and current routes
Marine Atlantic ferry ports and current routes

Marine Atlantic Inc. (fr: Marine Atlantique) is an independent Canadian Crown corporation offering ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.

Marine Atlantic's corporate headquarters are in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Contents

[edit] Current operations

[edit] Routes

Marine Atlantic operates ferries across the Cabot Strait on two routes:

The 96 nautical mile Port aux Basques route is operated year-round and is mandated under the Newfoundland Act, which is a part of the Constitution of Canada. This service was assumed by Canadian National Railway in 1949 from the Newfoundland Railway upon Newfoundland's entry into Confederation.

The 280 nautical mile Argentia route is operated seasonally during the summer months. This service was established by CNR in 1967.

[edit] Vessels

Marine Atlantic owns and operates 3 Ro-Pax (roll-on, roll-off, passenger) vessels and 1 vessel dedicated for semi-trailer truck/containerized cargo traffic.

The MV Caribou and the MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood are among the largest ferry vessels operating in North America and are among the largest icebreakers in the world. Classed "100A1" by Lloyd's with an ice classification of "Northern Baltic 1A Super," these vessels have similar dimensions as medium-sized cruise ships. They are based on a unique Canadian hull-design called "Gulfspan", which permits the ships to slice through sea ice rather than riding up onto and crushing it as conventional icebreakers do. Their dimensions are 27,000 registered tons and 179 metres long, carrying 1,200 passengers, 100 crew, and 370 automobile-equivalent vehicles.

The MV Leif Ericson is the company's third passenger ferry, having been purchased in 2001. Significantly smaller and a less-capable icebreaker than the Gulfspan vessels, this ferry's dimensions are 18,500 registered tons and 157 metres long, carrying 500 passengers, and 250 automobile-equivalent vehicles.

The MV Atlantic Freighter is the company's dedicated freight and cargo vessel. It has a capacity of approximately 80 trailers.

In April 2008 Marine Atlantic antered an agreement with the Estonia-based Tallink for chartering MV Superfast IX for five years from October 2008 onwards.[1] At 30,285 GT (gross tonnage), the Superfast IX will become the largest ship in Marine Atlantic fleet on entering service.[2]

[edit] History

Marine Atlantic was established in 1986 to take over the provision of ferry services in Atlantic Canada which had previously been operated by CN Marine, a subsidiary of Canadian National Railway. Its headquarters were in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Extensive budget cuts by the Government of Canada during the latter part of the 1990s led to a drastic downsizing of Marine Atlantic's operations, precipitated by the 1997 opening of the Confederation Bridge which replaced Marine Atlantic's most heavily used ferry service, the constitutionally-mandated ferry to Prince Edward Island.

Later in 1997, the company transferred the operation of its Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine ferry services between Saint John, New Brunswick-Digby, Nova Scotia and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia-Bar Harbor, Maine to the private-sector company Bay Ferries Limited, a subsidiary of Northumberland Ferries Limited.

That year also saw Marine Atlantic remove itself from the provision of coastal ferry services in Newfoundland and Labrador with the transfer of operations to the provincial government at the end of the 1997 shipping season. This agreement was reached between the federal and provincial governments in exchange for federal funding to extend regional roads such as the Trans-Labrador Highway to service coastal communities. These coastal ferry services had been initiated by the Newfoundland Railway and were assumed by Canadian National Railways, following the province's entry into Confederation in 1949, although they were not constitutionally mandated. Also in 1997 Marine Atlantic sold off its Newfoundland Dockyard, located in St. John's, Newfoundland to a private operator. The dockyard built in the 1880's was at one point in time owned by the Reid Newfoundland Company, then in 1923 was taken over by the Newfoundland Railway company. when Newfoundland joined Canada ownership passed to Canadian National.

In 1998, the company moved its headquarters from Moncton to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, after briefly considering North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador.

In late 2004 the federal government announced the appointment of a three-member committee tasked with examining future operations of Marine Atlantic. One of the options that was reportedly considered included privatization, however the subsequent report called for improved service through fleet renewal, lower fares, increased frequency of crossings, and moving the headquarters to Port aux Basques.

[edit] Former operations

[edit] Routes

From its inception in 1986 until 1997, Marine Atlantic operated the following routes:

[edit] Newfoundland Dockyard

The former Newfoundland Railway and Canadian National owned dockyard located in St. John's Newfoundland. Sold off to a private operator in 1997. renamed NewDock-St. John's Dockyard company.

[edit] Vessels

Marine Atlantic inherited numerous vessels from CN Marine in 1986, all of which have since been disposed of. Many of these vessels have gone through numerous ownership changes and, given their advanced age, many have also been scrapped.

[edit] Cabot Strait

[edit] Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy
  • MV Bluenose
  • MV Princess of Acadia

[edit] Labrador Coast

[edit] Newfoundland South Coast
  • MV Marine Runner
  • MV Marine Courier
  • MV Marine Sprinter
  • MV Taverner
  • MV Petite Forte
  • MV Hopedale

[edit] Northumberland Strait
For further information on ferries which operated on Northumberland Strait prior to Marine Atlantic's service (1986-1997), see Confederation Bridge.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Charter of MS Superfast IX. Tallink press release. Tallink (2008-04-25). Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
  2. ^ Our Ship is coming and she's a beauty. Marine Atlantic. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links