Marystown

Marystown, NL · Transport Canada · Transport Canada · Mortier Bay (Placentia Bay)

Marystown is a Transport Canada public port (also listed as a local/regional port facility) on Mortier Bay, an inlet on the western shore of Placentia Bay on the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland's south coast. Mortier Bay is one of the largest, deepest natural harbours in Newfoundland, provides good shelter and is virtually ice-free year-round; roughly 100 vessels are handled annually. The town is a historic shipbuilding and offshore-fabrication centre: the Marystown Shipyard and the nearby Cow Head Fabrication Facility (about 4 nm north) were long operated by Kiewit Offshore Services, building large complex offshore oil-and-gas structures (e.g. fabrication work for the Hebron project). Kiewit sold the shipyard property in 2016; it was acquired by Marbase Marystown Inc. in 2019 under a 20-year lease to develop an aquaculture service hub (salmon feed storage, lumpfish hatchery, barge/cage and vessel repair), while Kiewit retained the Cow Head fabrication site.