NORTH SYDNEY, N.S. — Marine Atlantic, the Crown corporation that operates ferries between the island of Newfoundland and mainland Canada, has added a fuel surcharge.

Marine Atlantic says it had no choice but to add the surcharge of 8.5 per cent. It had already undertaken extensive cost-cutting measures, including purchasing blended fuel for its boats.

In an open letter to its customers, Marine Atlantic says the “huge increases in fuel costs have placed a financial burden on our company that we cannot possibly absorb. Staggered by the doubling of fuel prices in 2000,” it explains, it had “no choice but to follow the lead of practically all other transportation companies.”

It noted that the 8.5 per cent collected “is 6 per cent less than the amount we need to recover the total cost of the increase in fuel expenses.”