Portland, Maine

Marine Atlantic, its predecessor CN Marine, and pre-confederation Newfoundland coastal boats have a strong and proud history serving the people of Atlantic Canada through ferry terminals, passenger vessels and rail service.

In this week’s blog posting we highlight Portland, Maine which served as a secondary Nova Scotia-United States route from 1976-1982.

Originally operated by the private sector in the 1970s, CN Marine took over the service to Portland in 1976 adding a secondary route to the United States to supplement its service to Bar Harbor, Maine. Operating between Yarmouth and Portland, the MV Marine Cruiser was used for the initial years of the service, with the MV Marine Evangeline used year-round beginning in 1978. With three scheduled crossings per week, the route was popular with commercial truckers who transported fish products to the Boston Market on a weekly basis, and tourists travelling between the two countries. Following six years of directly operating the Yarmouth-Portland route, the decision was made to refocus on operating a single United States service through Bar Harbor.