
Technical Specifications
Overview
MV Highlanders (ex-MV Stena Traveller) is a Ro-Pax passenger/vehicle ferry operated by the Canadian Crown corporation Marine Atlantic. She operates between the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton in eastern Canada and is named after several Nova Scotian infantry regiments which fought in the first and second world wars. Largely built in Russia, her assembly was finished in Norway. As part of Stena Line she regularly ran between The Netherlands and the United Kingdom from 2007-2009. After being leased by Marine Atlantic, she was taken to Bremerhaven, Germany to be converted to better suit the North Sydney to Channel-Port aux Basques route, which she would be taking over. This conversion included the addition of a third bow thruster, increase and renovation of the passenger areas, and shortening of the vessel by 12m to help facilitate docking at Channel-Port aux Basques. She entered regular passenger service with Marine Atlantic in mid April 2011 shortly after her nearly identical sister ship MV Blue Puttees. In May 2015, Marine Atlantic announced that it had purchased both vessels from Stena for Can$100 million each.
Live Tracking
Intelligence
Compliance
On 25 February 2026, the ferry "HIGHLANDERS", with 130 people on board, reported a total failure of an auxiliary generator in Cabot Strait off Port-aux-Basques, NL. The vessel proceeded into the harbour and the crew investigated the issue alongside.
On 23 May 2025, the ro-pax ferry "HIGHLANDERS" " reported losing propulsion due to a fouled propeller while leaving the dry dock in Les Méchins, QC. The ferry was moved back to the dock using a tug and mooring lines. The vessel sustained minor damage while redocking.
On 25 March 2021, the ferry "HIGHLANDERS" reported the failure of its shaft alternator due to a bearing issue.
On 07 May 2020, the ferry "HIGHLANDERS", with 70 people on board, reported a hydraulic oil leak from the bow thruster before departing the berth in Channel-Port aux Basques, NL. The bow thruster was taken out of service and the hydraulic tanks were drained.
On 25 July 2019, the ferry "HIGHLANDERS", with 85 people on board, whiled docked in North Sydney, NS, reported that a crew member slipped and fell on deck and sustained a fracture as a result.
On 25 November 2018, the ferry "HIGHLANDERS" reported that a stevedore sustained serious injuries while mooring the vessel in North Sydney, NS. The stevedore was medevaced to a local hospital.
On 27 June 2018, the ferry "HIGHLANDERS" reported a total failure of its starboard engine. The engine was re-started after leaving the harbour.
On 24 May 2017, the passenger ferry "HIGHLANDERS", with 85 people on board, reported being disabled with both engines unserviceable 27 nautical miles SSW of Port aux Basques, NL. The crew subsequently carried out the repairs and the vessel continued its voyage.
Recorded marine occurrences naming this vessel.
Operational Status
The latest broadcast is too stale or lacks the speed / status to classify.
Read from the single most-recent AIS broadcast we hold for this hull. We keep no position history, so this is a point-in-time posture, not a dwell inference. Derived in-house from our own AIS feed; weight it by the broadcast age above.
Composite Risk
Multiple adverse factors, or a hard ship-specific signal, lift this hull above the fleet norm.
A coverage-weighted blend of the 3 components we could read for this hull; the weights renormalise over only the components present, so a thin read is never inflated and a hull is never credited a “safe 0” for a signal it has no row for. Higher means riskier. Derived in-house from government-open port-State-control, flag, sanctions and our own vessel data; weight it by the coverage above.
Transparency
Behavioural flags raised against this vessel, each shown with the raw evidence behind it. Derived in-house from data we are entitled to publish; informational, not a determination of wrongdoing.
Stopped transmitting relative to the live feed front
Method: gap measured vs the live feed's own max timestamp, not wall-clock. Source: TheMaritime aisstream.io ingest (ais_positions).
Signals are a current-state view: a flag clears once the vessel stops tripping its detector. These are screening indicators, not a substitute for your own due diligence.
Fleet Management

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