MV Blue Puttees

History
Name	2007–2009: Stena Trader 2011 onwards: Blue Puttees
Operator	2006–2009: Stena Line 2011 onwards: Marine Atlantic
Port of registry	St. John's,  Canada
Builder	Baltijsky Zavod Shipyard, Vasilyevsky Island, Russia/Fosen Mekaniske Verksteder (Fosen Yards), Rissa, Norway
Laid down	2004
Launched	2005
Completed	2006
Identification	IMO number: 9331177 MMSI number: 316014040 Callsign: VXKF
Status	In service
General characteristics
Class and type	Seabridger
Tonnage	28,460 GT
Length	199.5 m (654.5 ft)
Beam	26.70 m (87.6 ft)
Draught	6.20 m (20.3 ft)
Installed power	2 × MAN 9L48/60B 9-cylinder diesel engines, 2 × Auxiliary Mitsubishi diesel engines
Propulsion	2 × controllable pitch propellers 3 × bow thrusters
Capacity	1000 passengers 2840 lane meters

MV Blue Puttees (ex-Stena Trader) is a Ro-Pax passenger/vehicle ferry operated by Marine Atlantic between the islands of Newfoundland and Cape Breton in eastern Canada. She is named after the nickname of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

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 to 2009. After being leased by Marine Atlantic, she was taken to Bremerhaven, Germany to be converted so as 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.^[1] She entered regular passenger service with Marine Atlantic in early March 2011.^[2] Her nearly identical sister ship MV Highlanders followed her into service a few weeks later. In May 2015, Marine Atlantic announced that it had purchased both vessels from Stena for Can$100 million each.^[3]