Proud of our History - 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.

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.

As always, we welcome your photos for posting in a future blog. Please email your photos to [email protected] including any facts such as the date and location.

In next week’s blog posting we highlight the SS Lintrose which serviced the Port aux Basques-North Sydney route from 1913-1915.