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Canada's Marine Atlantic Inc. has announced that it will be adding a 6 percent fuel surcharge on travel reservations made after 17th July 2009.

The Newfoundland-based entity, which provides a constitutionally mandated passenger and commercial marine transportation system between the Island of Newfoundland and the Province of Nova Scotia, said the decision was made after a quarterly review of its costs.

The announcement follows Marine Atlantic's decision to remove its fuel surcharge between April and June during the entity's busiest period for reservations for the summer period. Since the decision, the ferry line has seen average bunker prices steadily rise over the last three months.

Last year the fuel surcharge skyrocketed from 9.9 per cent to 27.7 per cent in July 2008, drawing an outcry from the provincial government. The then Minister of Transportation and Works, Dianne Whalen said the cost to passengers was "an affront to the expectations the people of the province have of the Trans Gulf ferry service as laid out in the Terms of Union."