Groupe CTMA And Marine Atlantic

Eastern Canada has long been renowned for its commercial shipping, especially through the St. Lawrence Seaway, and even in the recent past for its famous shipping line CP Ships, later to become Canada Maritime (CanMar) before it was swallowed up by the German shipping line Hapag-Lloyd, but little is said about its eastern seaboard ferry operators, of which two are profiled in this article. They are both well-established companies, and operate lifeline ferry services to several points along the coast of eastern Canada.

C.T.M.A.

The Co-opérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (C.T.M.A.) is a Canadian transportation company operating in Québec and Prince Edward Island. According to Transportation Canada, Gestion C.T.M.A. provides federally-subsidised passenger/ vehicle ferry services between Capaux- Meules, Magdalen Islands, Quebec, and Souris, Prince Edward Island, during the ice-free period from early April until the winter months. Labelling itself “Groupe C.T.M.A.”, the company operates the seasonal ferry service using the vessel Madeleine. In July 1997, the federal government purchased the Irish vessel Isle of Inishturk (renamed under Canadian flag Madeleine), to replace the ageing vessel Lucy Maud Montgomery. Use of this newly acquired vessel increased C.T.M.A.’s carrying capacity from 300 passengers and 90 auto-equivalent units (as provided by the Lucy Maud Montgomery) to 1,000 passengers and 250 auto-equivalent units, reducing the number of sailings required during the shoulder season. C.T.M.A. also provides a passenger and cargo ferry service from Cap-aux-Meules to Montreal from April to December, and from Cap-aux-Meules to Matane during the winter, under contract with the Province of Québec. It also operates a seasonal passenger service from Montréal to Cap-aux-Meules using the vessel C.T.M.A. Vacancier, as well as a year-round cargo service from Montreal and Matane, Québec, to Cap-aux-Meules using the vessel C.T.M.A. Voyageur.

The C.T.M.A. Group was founded in 1944 as a result of the need to supply the community of Les Îles de la Madeleine with the ability to provide itself with a dedicated and reliable means of transportation that would play an active role in the economic development of the Region. For many years, the Group’s ships travelled between the Atlantic Provinces, Quebec and Les Îles de la Madeleine, carrying goods and passengers to and from the archipelago. In the seventies, the Group introduced a regular Ferry Service between Prince Edward Island and Les Îles de la Madeleine, and that Ferry Service has since become the main access to the Islands. More recently, the company introduced a regular weekly cruise between Montréal, the Gaspésie Region around the Gaspé Peninsula and les Îles de la Madeleine, with a stopover in Québec City on the return journey. During the winter of 2004, C.T.M.A. introduced a Cold Water Cruise in the Gulf of St- Lawrence including a thematic stopover on Les Îles de la Madeleine. Seal Observation on the ice floes, as well as outdoor and cultural activities, are central to the themes.

Group C.T.M.A. operates a Ferry Service between Souris, Prince Edward Island, and Cap-aux-Meules in the Îles de la Madeleine. The 9,700 gt Madeleine is a modern and comfortable ship, in many ways comparable to a cruise ship, and offers an entertaining five-hour crossing, at a service speed of 20 knots. Passengers can take full advantage of the onboard services during the five hours crossing time between Prince Edward Island and Les Îles de la Madeleine, which include a cinema, cabins, a children’s play area, a cafeteria and a more formal dining room. Upon its arrival in Canadian waters, the vessel, which was put into service with C.T.M.A., went to Cap-aux-Meules for the purposes of undergoing general cleaning and minor modifications to meet Canadian ship safety standards.

C.T.M.A. also operates a ferry service within the Îles de la Madeleine, between Cap-aux-Meules and Île d’Entrée, with the 45 passenger Ivan Quinn, owned by the Société des Traversiers du Québec.

Cruises are undertaken by the 11,481 gt C.T.M.A. Vacancier. She has 3 passenger decks and 220 cabins, and undertakes cruises down the St Lawrence River from the port of Montréal to the Îles de la Madeleine. However, she is essentially a car/passenger ferry owned by the Coopérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien (CTMA) and operates on their Montréal- Cap-aux-Meules service. She was built in 1973 by the J.J Sietas Schiffswerft in Hamburg, West Germany, as the Aurella for the SF Line for use on Viking Line traffic. Between 1982 and 1998 she sailed as the Saint Patrick II, between 1998 and 2000 as the Egnatia II in 2000 as the Ville de Séte and between 2001 and 2000 as the City of Cork, before being sold to her current owners.

The Aurella was ordered by SF Line of Finland on 27th May 1972. She was delivered on 30th June 1973, and entered service three days later on Viking Line’s Naantali-Mariehamn-Kapellskär route, and was the largest ship in the services across the Sea of Åland at the time. The Aurella continued in Viking Line service until September 1981, when she was laid up at Mariehamn. The following January, she was sold to Irish Ferries and was renamed Saint Patrick II, to provide extra capacity on the Ireland-France route in the summer months. However, the lack of traffic during the winter saw her chartered to other operators. During the winter of 1982-1983, she was chartered to North Sea Ferries and Belfast Car Ferries, in 1984-1985 to B&I Line, 1985-1986 to DFDS Seaways and Stena Line, 1987- 1988 and 1988-1989 again to B&I Line, 1989-1990 to Sealink, and 1990-1991 to P&O European Ferries. From 1992 until 1995, she spent the winters in the Baltic Sea sailing for the Estonian ferry operator Tallink. During the Tallink charters she was also re-registered in Estonia, but returned to the Irish registry during the summer service with her owners. On 4th March 1994, while under charter to Tallink, the Saint Patrick II participated in the evacuation of the sinking cruise ship MS Sally Albatross near Porkkala, Finland. Finally, falling passenger numbers caused Irish Ferries to withdraw the Saint Patrick II from service in September 1997.

In May 1998 the Saint Patrick II was chartered to Hellenic Mediterranean Lines, renamed Egnatia II and placed on the Brindisi-Patras service. In May 2000, she was chartered to the Spanish operator Balear Express, and was renamed Ville de Sète for the Sète-Palma service. Balear Express went bankrupt in September 2000, and the Ville de Sète was consequently laid up. However, between March and December 2001 she was chartered to Swansea-Cork Ferries as the City of Cork. In March 2002, the City of Cork was sold to the Government of Canada, and in June the same year she was renamed C.T.M.A. Vacancier and placed on the Co-opérative de Transport Maritime et Aérien route between Montréal and Cap-aux-Meules. In 2003, she was extensively rebuilt at Les Mechins Dry Dock, Québec, with covered bridge wings, as well as being re-engined.

Marine Atlantic

Further to the east and across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the ferry operator Marine Atlantic operates across the Cabot Strait, at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is the successor to the former CN Railowned ferry operator CN Marine, which was a Canadian ferry company with its headquarters in Moncton, New Brunswick. It was created by its parent company Canadian National Railway (CN) in 1977 as a means to group the company’s ferry operations in eastern Canada into a separate operating division. The majority of these ferries also required federal subsidies to supplement fares, and thus CN was unwilling to have the operating losses appear in the railway’s accounts. CN Marine also operated the Newfoundland Dockyard in St. John’s, Newfoundland. CN Marine undertook several major service improvements on the constitutionallymandated services to Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island by commissioning the construction of the new vessels Abegweit and Caribou in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Abegweit was an icebreaking railway vehicle and passenger ferry which operated across the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait, connecting Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island, to Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick. There were two vessels named Abegweit that serviced this route between 1947 and 1997. The word Abegweit is derived from the Mi’kmaq Native American word for Prince Edward Island, Epekwit’k, meaning “cradled (or cradle) on the waves”.

In the late 1970s, CN (Canadian National), which had already undergone a change of name in 1960, underwent a corporate reorganisation which saw all of its ferry services placed under a subsidiary named CN Marine. CN Marine began the process of planning the design with the company German & Milne for a replacement of the Abegweit. The new vessel was to be named MV Straitway, and unlike the Abegweit, was designed as a Ro-Ro ferry which permitted faster loading and unloading. She was also custom-designed for the protected waters of Northumberland Strait, which permitted German & Milne to depart from traditional vessel design by eliminating the need for a conventional hull and bow.

The new vessel was laid down as hull 1136 at Saint John Shipbuilding and Dry Dock in Saint John, New Brunswick, and was launched in the autumn (fall) of 1981. While the new vessel was still in the midst of construction in late 1981, it was decided that the name Straitway would be changed to Abegweit, the same name as the vessel soon to leave service. Since the new vessel would be taking the same name, it was necessary to rename the original vessel for its last months of service. The name chosen for the old vessel was Abby and she finished service when the new Abegweit entered service in 1982.

During the winter of 1982-1983, while the new Abegweit was in service between Borden and Tormentine, the old Abegweit (by then abbreviated to Abby) was docked at Pictou, Nova Scotia, and was advertised for sale by CN Marine. She was subsequently purchased by the Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago, Illinois. The club were not permitted by city ordinances to construct a clubhouse on the waterfront, therefore they decided to purchase the Abby and permanently moor her at their facility. She left the Northumberland Strait for good in April 1983 and remains in ‘service’ on the Chicago waterfront. A curious phenomenon arising out of CN Marine’s name-switch operation is that many in the general public assume the new vessel’s name was Abegweit II, but this is not the case, as she was officially registered as Abegweit.

The new Abegweit was a much larger and more capable vessel, the largest on the Northumberland Strait service and she became the flagship of this route. Measuring 401 feet (122 m) in length and displacing 12,000 tons, she had 6 main engines which generated 18,000 brake horsepower (13 MW) which drove 2 stern propellers and 2 bow thrusters and 1 stern thruster. She could carry 974 passengers and 250 cars (or 40 trucks or 20 railway wagons) and had a hoistable car deck which doubled the number of cars on decks B and C.

In 1986, the federal government reorganised its east coast ferry services and changed the name of the Crown Corporation from CN Marine to Marine Atlantic, thus removing the last vestiges of the company’s association with its days as part of the mighty CN rail empire. On 31st December 1989, the Abegweit’s sister icebreaking ferry John Hamilton Gray carried the last railway cars off Prince Edward Island with the abandonment of the CN rail service on the island. Also in 1986, the proposal of a ‘fixed link’ to replace the Borden-Tormentine ferry service was revived and a plebiscite held on 18th January 1988 saw a 60% approval for the design and construction of such a structure. On 31st May 1997, the Confederation Bridge was opened and the ferry service closed. Abegweit was used as a cargo vessel to haul Marine Atlantic equipment located at Borden and Cape Tormentine to the corporation’s dock and storage facilities at North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to be used on its Cabot Strait service. She was then tied up at the Sydport Industrial Park at Point Edward, Nova Scotia, the west shore of Sydney Harbour, and was placed for sale.

Due to her relatively young age, Marine Atlantic had considered retrofitting the Abegweit with a hurricane bow, and to lengthen, to use her on the Cabot Strait service but the cost estimates for such modifications proved too costly, therefore she was declared surplus. Abegweit languished for 2 years without moving at Sydport before being sold in July 1999 to a firm named Accrued Investments Inc. of Houston, Texas. The Abegweit was renamed Accrued Mariner and sailed to the port of Galveston, Texas that month.

The new owners were supposedly examining the possibility of using the Accrued Mariner as a freight/railway ferry in the Great Lakes or possibly in the Gulf of Mexico, but she was never used and languished in Galveston until February 2004. During this time she was again advertised for sale with a price of US$6 million at one point. She was sold in January 2004 to a company named Pelican Marine in India. Her name was changed to Mariner under the registered owner of Bridgend Shipping Ltd. in Kingstown, St. Vincent. She sailed from Galveston at the end of February 2004 under the operation and management of Jupiter Ship Management (India). To burn off the fuel still onboard from her days at Marine Atlantic, some of which was removed by Accrued Investments, she was operated at reduced speed on 2 engines. The Mariner crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and then the Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal, Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean, arriving at the Alang Shipbreaking Yards in Alang, India, in early May 2004. Lloyd’s Registry records show her as being scrapped on 9th May 2004.

According to Transportation Canada, Marine Atlantic Inc. (MAI), a federal Crown Corporation, operates the constitutionallyguaranteed ferry link between North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Port-aux- Basques, Newfoundland, and the seasonal alternative between North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Argentia, Newfoundland. Marine Atlantic’s 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.

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 the Canadian 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 1880s was at one point in time owned by the Reid Newfoundland Company, but in 1923 was taken over by the Newfoundland Railway company. When Newfoundland joined Canada, the ownership of the company then passed to Canadian National. This facility had been established by the Newfoundland Railway to build and repair its coastal ferries. In 1949, it was transferred to Canadian National Railways (CNR) after that company assumed ownership of the Newfoundland Railway when the colony entered the Confederation. Its responsibility was transferred to the railway’s subsidiary CN Marine in 1977 and then to Marine Atlantic in 1986. Marine Atlantic operated the Newfoundland Dockyard from 1986 until its sale in 1997. Upon its privatisation in 1997, it was renamed New Dock-St. John’s Dockyard Company. 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 privatisation, 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.

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

Port aux Basques, NL along Newfoundland’s remote South Coast serving outlying ports and larger centres such as Burgeo and Ramea to Terrenceville

Lewisporte, NL, and St. Anthony, NL along the rugged Labrador coast serving outlying ports and larger centres such as Cartwright and Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Nain.

Borden, PEI to Cape Tormentine, NB

Saint John, NB to Digby, NS

Yarmouth, NS to Bar Harbor, Maine

Marine Atlantic itself made many changes in 1997, and virtually decimated the remnants of CN Marine by removing itself from all routes and vessels except the constitutionally mandated service to Port aux Basques and the seasonal service to Argentia, both originating in North Sydney.

Marine Atlantic Inc. is now an independent Canadian Crown Corporation offering ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. Its corporate headquarters are in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. The company operates ferries across the Cabot Strait on two routes:

North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Portaux- Basques, Newfoundland

North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Argentia, Newfoundland.

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 Canadian Constitution. This service was assumed by the Canadian National Railway in 1949 from the Newfoundland Railway when the province of Newfoundland entered into the Canadian Confederation. The 280 nautical mile Argentia route is operated seasonally during the summer months, and this service was established by CNR in 1967.

The routes were serviced for many years by the sister ferries Caribou and Joseph and Clara Smallwood which were among the largest ferry vessels operating in North American waters. Classed as ‘100A1’ by Lloyd’s Register, with an ice classification of ‘Northern Baltic 1A Super’, these vessels had similar dimensions to medium-sized cruise ships. They were based on a unique Canadian hull-design called ‘Gulfspan’. Their dimensions are 27,213 gt and 27,614 gt respectively, 179 metres long, carrying 1,200 passengers, 100 crew, and 370 automobile-equivalent vehicles. They were both sold for scrapping in 2011, both arriving at Alang on 6th October.

The Caribou named after the woodland caribou which graces the coat-ofarms of Newfoundland and Labrador and roams the forests of the island of Newfoundland and its mainland area of Labrador. The Caribou was also named in memory of her predecessor, the SS Caribou, which was sunk off Port-aux- Basques by a German U-boat on 14th October 1942, with the loss of 137 passengers and crew. Entering service in 1986, she was built by Versatile Davie in Lauzon, Québec, and was specifically designed for the 96 nautical-mile route across the Cabot Strait between North Sydney, NS, and Channel Port aux Basques, NL.

The Caribou regularly made the Cabot Strait crossing from North Sydney to Channel-Port aux Basques in approximately 5 hours, 30 minutes. However, she has been known to break the 5 hour mark in optimum conditions, but frequently comes closer to 6 hours as dictated by established schedules. At approximately 1 p.m. on Tuesday, 18th March 2008, the ferry arrived off North Sydney, but the captain realized that the ship could not push through the ice that had surrounded the harbour. The occupants, about 170 passengers and crew, were forced to spend the next few days on the stranded vessel. Although the vessel itself was not icebound, it necessitated a series of backand- forth manoeuvres as it waited for either the winds to shift, thus allowing the packed ice to disperse, or for the coast guard to arrive. On 19th March, the icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent was then diverted from icebreaker duties near Québec City and began to make its way to the area. This decision came in light of the fact that other vessels were preoccupied with other missions, and that the Louis S. St-Laurent was best suited for the task. Early in the morning of 20th March, a 28 year old man complaining of chest pains was airlifted from the Caribou by a Canadian Forces helicopter and taken to Cape Breton Regional Hospital. Although initially it was thought that the individual might have been suffering from a heart attack, it was later determined that he had endured no more than an anxiety attack.

The ferry Joseph and Clara Smallwood was a passenger/vehicle ferry which operates between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island in Eastern Canada, and was named after the former Newfoundland and Labrador politician Joseph R. Smallwood and his wife Clara. Entering service in 1989, she was built by MIL Davie Incorporated in Lauzon, Québec, and is specifically designed for the 280 nautical mile seasonal route across the Cabot Strait between North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Argentia, Newfoundland and Labrador.

The design of her sister ship, Caribou, had been commissioned by CN Marine in the early 1980s, and was the culmination of years of research into effective icebreaking ship designs, and she has the same classification, including ice classification, as her sister.

After the Joseph and Clara Smallwood replaced the Ambrose Shea in 1989, the North Sydney-Argentia crossing was reduced from 18 hours to a 14 hour schedule. During the northern hemisphere fall, winter and spring seasons, Joseph and Clara Smallwood joined her sister ship Caribou, along with the Leif Ericson on Marine Atlantic’s 96 nautical mile primary route between North Sydney, NS and Channel Port aux Basques, NL.

Marine Atlantic now operates 4 Ro-Pax vessels, Leif Ericson, Atlantic Vision, Blue Puttees and Highlander.

The 18,523 gt Leif Ericson was built in Fosen, Norway, in 1991 as the Stena Challenger for Stena Line, and originally operated across the English Channel between Dover and Calais. The vessel was purchased by the Government of Canada for its Crown Corporation Marine Atlantic in 2001, and underwent modifications in preparation for operating the 96 mile route between North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador. She was renamed Leif Ericson in honour of the 1000th anniversary of the Viking Leif Ericson’s settlement in Newfoundland, reportedly the first European to set foot in the so-called ‘New World’. The 157 metre long vessel has a capacity of 500 passengers and 300 passenger vehicles (combination of cars and tractor trailers), and is equipped for Ro-Ro bow and stern loading. She is classified as a DNV 1A1 General Cargo Carrier Ro-Ro, Ice Class B, and operates the North Sydney-Port aux Basques route. Her main engines are two Sulzer 8 ZAL40S diesel engines, rated at 10,555 kW or 14,400 hp, driving two Ulstein Liaaen Controllable Pitch propellers, and giving her a service speed of 18 knots. Her facilities include a cafeteria, bar lounge, seating lounge, gift shop, children’s area, dormitory berths and 39 fourberth cabins.

The 30,285 gt Atlantic Vision is a fast ro-pax ferry owned by the Estonian ferry company Tallink, under charter to Marine Atlantic, and is classified as ice class 1 A Super. She is powered by four Wärtsilä-Sulzer NSD ZA V40S diesel engines driving two propellers, with a combined power of 46,000 kW, and giving her a maximum speed of 30.4 knots and a service speed of 25.5 knots, and which also link to 2 bow thrusters and one stern thruster. She has a capacity for 962 passengers and 531 cars, and as of 2009, she operates on Marine Atlantic’s service between Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, and North Sydney, Nova Scotia, across the Cabot Strait, adjacent to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The ship was built in 2002 as the Superfast IX by HDW, Kiel, Germany, for the Greece-based Attica Group’s subsidiary Superfast Ferries.

With CAD$101 million in support from the Government of Canada, Marine Atlantic Inc. signed a five-year charter agreement for the Atlantic Vision. A naming competition was held for the ship, with students in Newfoundland and Labrador and in Cape Breton eligible to make entries. On 21st June 2008, the results of the competition were published, and Atlantic Vision was chosen as the new name for the vessel. The charter has now been extended.

The 28,460 gt Blue Puttees was the former Stena Trader which joined the fleet in 2010. She is 199.5 metres in length and has 96 cabins. She has 2,840 lane metres on the vehicle decks. Marine Atlantic named this vessel after the regiment that represented Newfoundland in the Great War. They quickly earned a reputation as a fierce fighting unit and were part of the tragic advance at Beaumont-Hamel on 1st July 1916.

The 28,460 gt Highlanders is another ex-Stena Line vessel, having been built in 2007 as the Stena Traveller. She joined Marine Atlantic in February 2011 and is identical to the Blue Puttees. The Highlanders was named in recognition of the distinguished military service of the Highland regiments throughout Nova Scotia, now made up of the Nova Scotia Highlanders and the Cape Breton Highlanders. The men and women of these two units continue to provide humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping services that are recognized throughout the world.

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. The Northern Ranger (2,556 gt) is a Canadian ice-breaking coastal ferry operating in the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador, and entered service in 1986 with Marine Atlantic. In 1997, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador took over all intra-provincial ferry service from the federal Crown Corporation in exchange for a one-time payment for highway construction and capital costs toward improving the ferry service. The Northern Ranger was transferred from federal ownership under Transport Canada to that of the Department of Transportation and Works, and the vessel is operated by Coastal Labrador Marine Services (CLMS). She is named after her predecessor, the SS Northern Ranger, launched in Scotland in 1936 and operated by the Newfoundland Railway and later Canadian National Railways for thirty years.

Thanks to the strong economic performance of Newfoundland and Labrador, Marine Atlantic Inc. saw increased traffic in fiscal year 2007/08, transporting 416,823 passengers, 141,718 passenger vehicles and 90,039 commercial vehicles. This resulted in increased revenues from fares and ancillary services totalling C$73.2 million. With only a slight increase in operating expenses, Marine Atlantic Inc.’s cost recovery performance was 58%.