Passage on ferry CONFEDERATION, Caribou - Wood Islands (Northumberland Ferries)

The MV CONFEDERATION is a double-ended Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) ferry that operates seasonally between Caribou, Nova Scotia, and Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island. The ferry's operations span from May to December and are managed by Northumberland Ferries Limited (NFL). NFL enlisted the services of Pictou Industries Limited to build the CONFEDERATION, which was launched in Pictou, Nova Scotia, in 1993. The vessel, characterized by its sizable dimensions, measures 114.2 meters in length, has a beam of 18.77m, a draft of 4.439m, and a gross tonnage of 8,060. It can comfortably accommodate up to 600 passengers and has the capacity to transport 220 vehicles. As early as 1985, a surge in tourist traffic led to discussions about strategies to address capacity issues. The facilities at Caribou and Wood Islands were operating at levels well above their capacities, often causing vehicle lineups to extend several kilometers on both sides of the route. To mitigate this, a contract was signed between the federal government and Pictou Industries in 1991. This contract was aimed at locally constructing a new, high-capacity ferry specifically for this route, with an additional identical vessel expected to enter service in the future. To accommodate these new ferries, both the Caribou and Wood Islands terminals underwent significant upgrades. The construction of what would eventually become the CONFEDERATION began in February 1992, with a projected completion date of July 1993. The ferry was designed to be double-ended, a concept borrowed from Norwegian designs, due to the limitations of a vessel of its size to turn around in both harbors, and it was also equipped with an ice-strengthened bow. As the 1993 tourist season approached, it was clear that the ferry would not be ready on time due to technical problems with the safety equipment and issues with the docking infrastructure. The MV CONFEDERATION was finally completed on October 28, 1993, with the project costing $45 Million CAD and finishing nearly four months behind schedule. JustFerries! Videos of Ferries & RoRo ships. Follow me on: ►Facebook:   / iloveferries   ►Twitter:   / justferries   ►Instagram:   / justferries   For commercial use of my footage send your request to [email protected] (Please note that I receive an extremely large amount of spam. If I do not recognize that you have dealt with the issue of ships, you will not receive a reply).