The St. John Car Barge
Two companies run roll-on/roll-off barges across Pillsbury Sound between the Red Hook ramp at Vessup Bay and Enighed Pond outside Cruz Bay. About 30 minutes, $65 one-way for a non-resident vehicle, no reservations — you queue, you load, you pay onboard.
Red Hook ↔ Enighed Pond
Both fleets shuttle the same channel continuously through the day. The two ramps are not the passenger ferry docks — on each island the barge loads somewhere else entirely, which is the single most common mistake first-timers make.
Red Hook
A separate ramp off the Vessup Bay access road, just south of the Red Hook passenger ferry terminal. Follow the CAR BARGE signs — do not queue at the passenger dock.
Directions to the ramp →Enighed Pond
St. John's commercial port, about half a mile south of Cruz Bay town. Vehicles offload straight onto Route 104 toward Cruz Bay.
Directions to the ramp →Is a barge running?
The barges keep a published timetable but run on real-world conditions — weather, a full deck, a vessel out for maintenance. These two feeds answer the question directly rather than guessing from a schedule.
Live from Contant, just outside Cruz Bay, looking west over Large Pond and Turner Bay toward St. Thomas. Camera by St. John Brewers. All Virgin Islands webcams →
For same-day delays and weather cancellations, the community Car Barge Facebook group is consistently faster than either operator’s own channels — locals post when a barge goes down or the line at Red Hook backs up.
The full timetable, both operators
Love City and Big Red publish separate schedules, but drivers just take whichever barge is next — so these are merged and sorted by time. 42 scheduled sailings a day in total. Flagged departures do not run every day.
Both fleets overnight on the St. John side, which is why the first sailing of the day leaves Enighed Pond and the St. Thomas column starts about half an hour later. Strip out the seasonal and weekday-only runs and you still have 17 year-round sailings from St. John and 17 from St. Thomas.
Fares
One fare covers the vehicle, the driver and everyone riding in it — there is no per-passenger charge on the barge. Payment happens onboard after you load; both operators take cash and cards.
How loading actually works
There is no terminal building, no ticket counter and no boarding pass. The whole thing is a ramp, a queue and a crew member with a card reader.
On St. Thomas that is the Vessup Bay access road south of the Red Hook passenger terminal — follow the CAR BARGE signs. Queueing at the passenger dock is the classic first-timer error and costs you a sailing.
Vehicles board in arrival order. Stay with your car; the crew directs each vehicle onto the deck and parks them tight.
Once loaded, a crew member walks the deck selling tickets. Cash or card. Buy the round trip on the outbound leg if you know you are coming back the same day — it saves $50 non-resident.
Passengers stay on the deck or step out along the rail. It is a 30-minute open-water crossing with a clear view back to Red Hook and across to Cruz Bay.
At Enighed Pond you drive straight off onto Route 104 into Cruz Bay. Northbound it is the same process in reverse from the Enighed Pond ramp.
The two operators
Four barges between them. Same route, same crossing time, near-identical fares — the practical difference is only which one is at the ramp when you arrive.
Love City Car Ferries
- Phone
- (340) 779-4000
- Sailings / day
- 28
- Crossing
- 30 min
- * = Seasonal departures; ** = Not on weekends or holidays
Big Red Barge Co.
- Phone
- (340) 227-0918
- Sailings / day
- 14
- Crossing
- 30 min
- Resident seniors (65+) round trip $60 with valid USVI ID
- Motorcycles: $15 one-way / $25 round trip
Car barge FAQ
Related
Timetable, fares, operators and vessel names verified current as of August 6, 2026, drawn from Love City Car Ferries and Big Red Barge Co. Car barge schedules shift seasonally and with vessel maintenance — check the live cam or tracker above before you drive to the ramp.