Marine Atlantic - Fleet

Fleet

Marine Atlantic owns and operates four Ro-Pax (roll-on, roll-off, passenger) vessels:

• MV Atlantic Vision
• MV Blue Puttees
• MV Highlanders
• MV Leif Ericson

The MV Leif Ericson, purchased in 2001, is significantly smaller and a less-capable ferry than other vessels in the fleet. This ferry's dimensions are 18,500 registered tons and 157 metres long, carrying 500 passengers, and 250 automobile-equivalent vehicles. Leif Ericson is undergoing a complete renovation in the spring of 2011 and will rejoin the fleet subsequently, in the future mainly for commercial vehicles and not carrying passengers anymore.

MV Atlantic Vision is under charter from the Estonia-based Tallink for five years from October 2008 onwards. At 30,285 GT, the Atlantic Vision is the largest ship in Marine Atlantic fleet.

On May 21, 2010, Marine Atlantic announced that the company had agreed to charter two vessels from the Stena Line to replace the aging "Gulfspan" class vessels MV Caribou and MV Joseph and Clara Smallwood. The new vessels, built in 2006 and 2007, will boost capacity and lower operating costs, since they consume less fuel. On September 29, 2010, Marine Atlantic announced the names of the new vessels: MV Blue Puttees and MV Highlanders. Blue Puttees started operating March 2011, Highlanders started operating April 2011.