Built at the Remontowa shipyard in Gdansk, Poland to a design by naval architects Hart Fenton, the £11.5 million St Clare has a capacity for 180 cars and 750 passengers. At 86m long and with a breadth of 18m, it is 8m longer and 1m wider than all existing Saint class vessels on the Portsmouth to Isle of Wight route. There are separate side loading facilities for foot passengers at the passenger deck level while the vessel's double end design allows vehicles to load faster onto two car decks at one end and disembark at the other end.