MV Caribou

The MV "Caribou" is a Marine Atlantic passenger/vehicle ferry which operates between the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island in eastern Canada.

MV "Caribou" is named after the woodland caribou which graces the coat-of-arms of Newfoundland and Labrador and roams the forests of the island of Newfoundland and its mainland area of Labrador. MV "Caribou" is also named in memory of her predecessor the SS "Caribou" which was sunk off Port aux Basques by a German U-boat on October 14, 1942 with the loss of 137 passengers and crew.

Entering service in 1986, she was built by Versatile Davie in Lauzon, Quebec, and is specifically designed for the 96 nautical mile route across the Cabot Strait between North Sydney, NS and Channel-Port aux Basques, NL.

A roll-on, roll-off design with a bow visor, the MV "Caribou" has 2 vehicle decks and 5 decks above, the main passenger deck being Deck 5. She measures 179 metres in overall length and 25 metres in breadth, weighing 27,212 tons. Her capacity includes 1,200 passengers and 370 automobiles or 77 tractor trailers. She has up to 106 crewmembers.

MV "Caribou"'s design had been commissioned by CN Marine in the early 1980s and was the culmination of years of research into effective icebreaking ship designs. The resulting hull design which MV "Caribou" and MV "Joseph and Clara Smallwood" were built to is called "Gulfspan", named in part after the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The "Gulfspan" hull is unique among Canadian icebreakers in that the ship slices through sea ice, rather than using its weight to ride up onto and crushing the ice underneath. This design permits the sister ships to maintain close to regular operating speed.

At the time that MV "Caribou" entered service in 1986, CN Marine underwent a restructuring whereby the company was separated from its parent CN Rail and renamed Marine Atlantic. At the same time, CN was beginning the process of abandoning all railway service on the island of Newfoundland, which had been operating as Terra Transport. Several ferry vessels were retired and/or sold at the time that MV "Caribou" entered service and these corporate restructuring changes were taking place.

MV "Caribou" regularly makes 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.

During the summer months, MV "Caribou" operates the Port aux Basques service exclusively with MV "Leif Ericson". During the fall, winter and spring months, these vessels are joined by MV "Joseph and Clara Smallwood", which operates the seasonal service from North Sydney, NS to Argentia, NL in the summer.

March 18th, 2008 Stranding

At approximately 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 18, 2008, the ferry arrived off North Sydney. The captain realized that the boat 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 onthe stranded vessel. Although the vessel itself was not icebound, it necessitated a series of back and forth maneuvers as it waited for either the winds to shift, thus allowing the packed ice to disperse, or for the coast guard to arrive.

On March 19th, The icebreaker, CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent was then diverted from icebreaker duties near Quebec City and began to make its way to the area. This decision came in light of the fact that other vessels were preoccupied with missions and that the Louis S. St-Laurent was best suited for the task. [http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/03/19/icebreaker_summoned_to_nova_scotia_port/5203/]

Early in the morning of March 20th, a 28-year old man complaining of chest pains was airlifted from the MV Caribou by a Canadian Forceshelicopter and taken to Cape Breton Regional Hospital. Although initially it was thought that the individual might have been suffering cardiac arrest, it was later determined that he had endured an anxiety attack. [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080320/ferry_airlift_080320/20080320?hub=TopStories]