CN Marine was a Canadian ferry company headquartered in Moncton,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

History

CN Marine was created by parent Canadian National Railway (CN) in 1977 as a means to group the company's ferry operations in eastern Canada into a separate operating division. It had previously been part of the

Canadian National Steamship Company The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

. The majority of these ferries also required federal subsidies to supplement fares, 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 constitutionally mandated services to Newfoundland and

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

by commissioning the construction of the new vessels '' Abegweit'' and '' Caribou'' in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1986, the federal government approved a restructuring at CN which saw the company remove itself completely from the east coast ferry service, which was renamed

Marine Atlantic Marine Atlantic Inc. (french: Marine Atlantique) is an independent Canadian federal Crown corporation which is mandated to operate ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. Marine Atlantic's corporate he ...

. This move was in advance of CN abandoning railway services on the islands of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, which had required use of CN/CN Marine rail ferries. At the time of the changeover to Marine Atlantic, the last of the rail ferries to Newfoundland were retired, with that province's railway abandoned in September 1988; Prince Edward Island followed in December 1989. Marine Atlantic itself made many changes a decade later in 1997, virtually decimating 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 Argentia ( ) is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by a triangular shaped headland which r ...

, both originating in North Sydney. Also in 1997 Marine Atlantic sold off the Newfoundland Dockyard in St. John's to a private operator. It was renamed NewDock-The St. John's Dockyard Company.

Routes

* Port Borden, PEI to Cape Tormentine, NB * Saint John, NB to

Digby, NS Digby is an incorporated town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is in the historical county of Digby and a separate municipality from the Municipality of the District of Digby. The town is situated on the western shore of the Annapolis Basi ...

(took over from

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

in early 1976). * Bar Harbor, ME (and sometimes

Portland, ME Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

) to Yarmouth, NS * North Sydney, NS to Port aux Basques, NL * North Sydney, NS to Argentia, NL * Port aux Basques, NL to Argentia, NL (coastal service) * St. John's, NL to St. Anthony, NL (coastal service) * Lewisporte, NL to Goose Bay, NL (coastal service) * St. Anthony, NL to Nain, NL (coastal service) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cn Marine Ferry companies of Prince Edward Island Ferry companies of New Brunswick Ferry companies of Nova Scotia Ferry companies of Newfoundland and Labrador Ferry companies of Maine Canadian National Railway subsidiaries Companies based in Moncton Former Crown corporations of Canada Defunct shipping companies of Canada Transport companies established in 1977 1977 establishments in New Brunswick Transport companies disestablished in 1986 1986 disestablishments in New Brunswick Canadian companies disestablished in 1986 Canadian companies established in 1977