Are you a PRV, a CRV or a Foot Passenger? Terms you may hear at our terminals!

When travelling with Marine Atlantic there are a number of terms you may hear at our terminal properties. The acronyms used every day by our staff may not be easily understood by anyone outside the organization, but it is vital to ensuring every passenger and vehicle is boarded in an effective, efficient and accurate manner in preparation for your sailing.

If you hear someone call you a PRV, they are referring to the term “Passenger Related Vehicle” which simply indicates that you are driving a car on board our vessels.

For our commercial customers it becomes a little broader. In a general sense, commercial customers are commonly referred to as CRV units or “Commercial Related Vehicle”. However, this breaks down into live units and drop trailers. Live units are tractor trailers that have a truck cab, a driver and a trailer. A drop trailer is a trailer unit that is dropped off at our terminal property, loaded and unloaded from our vessels by Marine Atlantic staff, then picked up by another truck on the opposite side. The vehicle that loads these drop trailers on board our vessels are known as shunt trucks. These vehicles are easily recognizable at our terminals as they are much smaller than a regular transport truck, but are very efficient in loading trailers on board our vessels.

If you are travelling without a car, you may be referred to as a “foot passenger” or a “walk on passenger”. Don’t let the name fool you, to ensure your safety there will be no walking to the vessel. Marine Atlantic has very modern and comfortable shuttle buses that transport “foot” or “walk on” passengers and your luggage directly to the vessel.

So whether you are a PRV, CRV, walk on passenger, or require the services of a shunt truck, we look forward to serving your travel needs.