The Shaftesbury ferry was in service on 511 Alberta on 1 October 2026, running from 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. as it does each year from mid-spring until mid-November, when the Peace River starts to freeze. There is no charge. Expect a small deck: eight mid-size cars and a 38,000 kg load limit, the lowest of Alberta's ferries.
Hours of operation from Alberta Transportation's ferry page and 511 Alberta (both: 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., mid-spring until mid-November); 2026 closing date not announced; checked 2 October 2026 Government of Alberta – Alberta ferry schedules · 2026-10-02
The year on Alberta Transportation's specification sheet for the Shaftesbury ferry is 1962. Every other vessel on the province's list was built between 1983 and 2001, so this is the elder of the fleet by more than twenty years, and still in daily use carrying Highway 740 across the Peace River south of Grimshaw.
It is also built differently from most of its siblings. Bleriot, Crowfoot, Finnegan and Klondyke are cable ferries; La Crete is self-propelled; the Shaftesbury is listed as a hull pushed by a tug. The ferry is 22.56 metres long and 12.12 metres wide, carries two crew, 46 passengers and eight mid-size cars, and is rated for 38,000 kg.
For drivers the history comes with a plain timetable: from mid-spring until mid-November the ferry works from 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., and crossing costs nothing. The open question each autumn is the last day, which is set by the river rather than the calendar.
The Municipal District of Peace, whose territory includes the north landing, states that there is no charge to cross the river on the Shaftesbury ferry. Neither the provincial ferry page nor 511 Alberta lists any fare, and there is nowhere to pay on the ramps.
| Car and driver | Free |
| Passenger | Free |
Municipal District of Peace No. 135, Shaftesbury Ferry page, read 2 October 2026 Municipal District of Peace No. 135 – Shaftesbury Ferry · 2026-10-02
Highway 740 meets the Peace River south of Grimshaw, and the ferry carries it across, joining the Municipal District of Peace No. 135 on the north side to Birch Hills County on the south. Alberta Transportation gives the crossing as 325 metres. Alberta has two ferries on the Peace; the other is at La Crete, on Highway 697.
Among the six crossings on the provincial list, only La Crete, at 680 metres, is longer. The others are all shorter than Shaftesbury's 325: Klondyke's 230 metres on the Athabasca, Crowfoot's 150 and the 105-metre Bleriot and Finnegan crossings on the Red Deer River.
From Grimshaw, Highway 740 heads south to the river; 511 Alberta places the ferry 19 km south of the town. On this bank you are in the Municipal District of Peace, which describes the access as being at roughly River Lot 3 on the Shaftesbury Trail.
No fare, no reservations: cars simply wait at the ramp for the next crossing.
The south ramp is in Birch Hills County, across the water from Grimshaw.
Late in the season, check the status before driving down from this side: when the boat comes off the river for winter, Highway 740 has no crossing here.
The province's road-information service carries a live status line for the Shaftesbury Ferry; on 1 October 2026 it said In Service.
That is the lowest load capacity among Alberta's six ferries. Bleriot, Crowfoot and Finnegan are rated at 62,500 kg and La Crete at 95,000 kg.
Room for eight mid-size cars and 46 passengers per trip. A long evening queue can take two or three crossings to clear.
LaPrairie Group, the contractor, is on 1-800-828-3908. General questions go to Alberta Transportation on 780-415-1030 (310-0000 first, toll-free in Alberta), Monday to Friday, 08:15–16:30.
Alberta operates six ferries as part of its highway network, and the season varies widely between them. Crowfoot stopped at noon on 30 September and Bleriot runs into late October, while Shaftesbury, La Crete and Klondyke are listed as working until mid-November.
Old copies of the provincial page tell the same story about the calendar. In 2015 and again in 2019 the Shaftesbury entry gave the same daily hours, opened the season in early May and left the November finish 'to be announced'; today's wording, mid-spring until mid-November, leaves the closing day just as open.
The municipality on the north bank promotes the ferry as an outing in its own right: its page features the crew, the wildlife they see from the deck, and passengers from as far away as Austria, New Zealand and Dubai.
It was: 511 Alberta listed it as In Service on 1 October 2026. The season normally lasts until mid-November.
11:30 p.m., according to Alberta Transportation and 511 Alberta. It starts again at 7 a.m.
Nothing official yet. The province gives mid-November as the end of the season, but ice on the Peace River decides it; check 511 Alberta.
Alberta Transportation gives the length of the crossing as 325 metres. It does not publish a crossing time, so we do not quote one.
Only if the load fits within 38,000 kg, the ferry's rated capacity and the lowest of the six Alberta ferries.
No. Alberta lists its propulsion as a hull pushed by a tug, unlike the cable ferries at Bleriot, Crowfoot, Finnegan and Klondyke.
No. The Municipal District of Peace states there is no charge, and no fare appears on any provincial listing.
LaPrairie Group operates it under contract to Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors; the company's number for ferry questions is 1-800-828-3908.