First of four new additional BC Ferries Island Class ships arrives in B.C. | Daily Hive

Island xwsaĺux̌ul arriving in Victoria Inner Harbour, May 2026. (BC Ferries)

BC Ferries has taken delivery of the first of four new additional Island Class vessels that will join its fleet over the next year, marking another step in a major effort to modernize ferry service on minor routes.

The new vessel, Island xwsaĺux̌ul (pronounced xwus-saw-la-kwahl), recently arrived in Victoria Inner Harbour after being built at Damen Shipyards in Romania. Before it begins carrying passengers, the vessel will undergo final testing, sea trials, and crew training.

If all sea trials and regulatory approvals proceed as planned, the ferry is expected to enter service later in Summer 2026 on the route linking Nanaimo Harbour and Gabriola Island’s Descanso Bay terminal.

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BC Ferries intends for this vessel to fill the current operating role of the 2021-built Island Kwigwis, one of the current ferries serving the route.

The new ferry is part of BC Ferries’ growing Island Class fleet, which has been designed specifically for shorter inter-island routes.

In November 2025, the ferry company announced First Nations language names for all four vessels. In addition to Island xwsaĺux̌ul, the other vessels are named Island Gwa’yam, Island K’asa, and Island sarlequun.

BC Ferries announced in January 2024 that it had chosen Damen Shipyards to build the four vessels. Then, in May 2024, the federal government’s Canada Infrastructure Bank provided a low-cost loan of $75 million to help finance the order. The final vessel in the order was launched into the water at the Romanian shipyard in March 2026.

Island xwsaĺux̌ul arriving in Victoria Inner Harbour, May 2026. (BC Ferries)

Although the Island Class vessels currently operate using a diesel-hybrid system, they have been built with battery capability and are intended to eventually operate entirely on renewable electricity once shore-based charging infrastructure becomes available. BC Ferries indicates the transition would help reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also lowering underwater noise levels.

Jimenez said the new ships are expected to improve service across the ferry network.

“Island xwsaĺux̌ul is the first of four new Island Class vessels expected to arrive over the coming year,” said Nicolas Jimenez, president and CEO of BC Ferries, in a statement.

“These all-electric vessels are designed to help strengthen reliability, increase capacity, reduce emissions, and provide greater flexibility across the inter-island system, while better supporting the coastal communities that depend on these routes every day.”

The arrival of the new vessel is also expected to trigger a broader reshuffling of ferries throughout the system.

Under current plans, Island Kwigwis will move to the Campbell River-Quadra Island route later this summer before eventually serving as a relief vessel during refits and maintenance periods, providing a greatly enhanced degree of fleet redundancy and resiliency.

That redeployment would allow Island Nagalis to move onto the Quadra Island-Cortes Island route, replacing the aging 1969-built Tachek. BC Ferries notes that the change would increase vehicle capacity from 26 vehicles to 47 vehicles and boost total passenger and crew capacity from 150 people to 399.

Further changes are planned for 2027, when BC Ferries intends to introduce two-vessel service on the Crofton-Vesuvius Bay route connecting Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island. The move would replace the Quinsam and is expected to increase both vehicle capacity and the number of daily sailings.

Island xwsaĺux̌ul arriving in Victoria Inner Harbour, May 2026. (BC Ferries)

According to BC Ferries, the Island Class fleet is expected to become the company’s largest vessel class once all four new ships arrive, bringing the total number of Island Class vessels to 10. The first six vessels were completed between 2019 and 2021 by Damen Shipyards, including the Island Kwigwis, Island Discovery, Island Aurora, Island Nagalis, Island K’ulut’a, and Island Gwawis.

The standardized design is intended to simplify crew training, reduce maintenance complexity, and improve operational flexibility when vessels are temporarily removed from service.

Across the routes they serve, BC Ferries notes the Island Class vessels will collectively provide a 71 per cent increase in vehicle capacity and a 135 per cent increase in passenger capacity compared with the older vessels they are replacing. That equates to room for nearly 200 additional vehicles and more than 2,000 extra passengers each day.

Last month, BC Ferries announced the future four New Major Vessels — the largest ferries on the entire fleet, serving the major routes linking Metro Vancouver with Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast — will be named the Summit Class fleet of ships. Moreover, each ship will be named after a B.C. tree species — the Summit Arbutus, Summit Cedar, Summit Maple, and Summit Spruce. Construction on the ships at a shipyard in mainland China will begin in Fall 2026, with the first delivery scheduled for 2029 and the last arrival by 2031.

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