page_title: Lake Champlain Transportation Company
section_title: Ice-breaking on Lake Champlain
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Champlain Transportation Company / Ice-breaking on Lake Champlain
caption_attribution_description: The Cumberland, one of the ferries of the Lake Champlain Transportation Company, as it breaks ice during the winter.
context_page_description: The Lake Champlain Transportation Company provides car and passenger ferry service at three points on Lake Champlain in the United States. From 1976 to 2003, it was owned by Burlington, Vermont, businessman Raymond C. Pecor, Jr. who is Chairman of the company's board. In 2003, he sold the company to his son, Raymond Pecor III.
  Lake Champlain is the thirteenth-largest lake in the United States, reaching a maximum width of 12 miles and depths of more than 300 feet. As such, there is no bridging of the "broad lake" north of Crown Point, New York, and south of the Rouses Point-Alburg-Swanton crossing near the Canada–United States border, though bridging of the lake near Plattsburgh has been proposed. The ferry service allows convenient transport across the lake between New York and Vermont. Approximately one million passengers cross the lake by ferry each year.
context_section_description: During the winter, Lake Champlain sometimes ices over, making ferry service on the long Burlington-Port Kent route impractical. The Grand Isle-Cumberland Head route is short enough to maintain an open channel, and the distance to the Rouses Point bridge makes it practical for substantial motor traffic to use the ferry, justifying the difficulty of keeping the ferry service operating. The ferries used on this run are of the ice-breaking type; their hulls and propellers are reinforced to allow the boats to operate through thin or broken ice. By operating continuously, the ferries maintain an open channel throughout the winter ice season.
  In the past, the ferries did not operate around the clock, but in winter time, a few runs were made through the night to prevent the ice from freezing solidly. Now, scheduled runs continue throughout the night.
caption: Cumberland headed east to Grand Isle
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