While Saint Pierre and Miquelon no longer has any functioning railways,[1] today it has 114 km (71 mi) of highways plus 45 km (28 mi) of unpaved roads. Its only major harbour is at Saint-Pierre although there is a smaller harbour at Miquelon. The dependency has no merchant marine but has two airports; the runway at Saint-Pierre Airport is 1,800 metres (5,910 ft) long, and at Miquelon Airport, 1,000 metres (3,280 ft).
A regular car ferry service is provided between Saint-Pierre and the Canadian town of Fortune, Newfoundland and Labrador. As of August 2021, there is now regular ferry service between the two destinations capable of carrying 15 cars and three tractor-trailer trucks.[2]
In the past from 2005 to 2009, Atlantic Jet provided a ferry service to the islands from Canada,[3] operated privately by SPM Express SA. It was replaced by MV Arethusa, but the service was terminated in 2010 when the island opted to form a government-run ferry service.
| Canada Ferry Terminal |
Waterway | Saint Pierre and Miquelon Ferry Terminal |
Ferry Company | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Newfoundland and Labrador–Saint Pierre et Miquelon[edit] | ||||
| Fortune | Fortune Bay | Saint-Pierre | SPM Ferries | NORDET and SUROÎT vessels can transport 188 passengers and 18 vehicles each, regularly between the two destinations. |
Jeune France is a smaller ferry serving seasonal local service between St. Pierre and Langlade. The ship arrived in 2012 replacing Saint-George XII, but has been in dry dock since early 2015.
Several cruise ship lines visit Saint-Pierre.[4] They dock 2 km northeast of downtown, near the end of the coastal road. Boats also provide access to Ile aux Marins.
Air transport is provided by Air Saint-Pierre which directly connects Saint-Pierre with Miquelon and seasonally with Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in France, and with Montreal, Halifax, Saint John's and the Magdalene Islands in Canada.
Other travel to France involves transfer with other airlines via Montreal:
Air St. Pierre began its non-stop weekly route to Paris (seasonal) in 2018.
The Saint-Pierre - Miquelon route is one of the shortest scheduled airline routes in the world in terms of distance and flight duration.
In the past, Saint Pierre and Miquelon used only standard French vehicle registration plates, rather than plates in the format of six inches (150 mm) high by twelve inches (300 mm) wide used by most other jurisdictions in North America. More recently however, American vehicles with North American plates are becoming more common, particularly since the new car ferry service to Canada began in 2021.[5]
The islands do not follow the standard French numbering system. Until 1952, cars were simply numbered from 1 onwards, without any code to identify them as being from Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Beginning in 1952, they had serial numbers followed by the letters SPM, e.g. 9287 SPM. Since 2000, all numbers have begun with the letters SPM followed by a serial number and serial letter, e.g. SPM 1 A.[6]
Road signs are in French and are European influenced.
