These are the names of BC Ferries' future four largest ships, built in China | Daily Hive

These are the tree-inspired names of BC Ferries' future four largest ships, built in China

Conceptual artistic rendering of the Summit Arbutus ship. (BC Ferries)

There are now official names for BC Ferries’ future largest ships, serving the major routes linking Metro Vancouver with Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.

The ferry company announced this week that the four New Major Vessels to be built in China will be designated as the “Summit” class of ships.

Moreover, each of the four ships will be named after the trees found across British Columbia — the Summit Arbutus, Summit Cedar, Summit Maple, and Summit Spruce.

“We heard clearly through the naming process the importance of connecting these vessels to the natural environment of British Columbia and to the communities they serve — and that’s reflected in the vessel names,” said Nicolas Jimenez, president and CEO of BC Ferries, in a statement.

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According to the ferry company, the names were selected after performing consultation with employees and a representative group of external participants. There was a strong preference for names that reflect the coast, natural environment, and the communities served by the ferries, as well as a “consistent, recognizable approach.”

“Arbutus, cedar, maple and spruce are some of the most recognizable trees in British Columbia — they’re central to our forests, reflect a long tradition of environmental stewardship, and help define the province’s landscape,” said Robert Guy, professor emeritus in the Faculty of Forestry at UBC.

“It’s fitting to see those names on vessels that so many British Columbians rely on to connect with family, support communities and keep people and goods moving along key coastal routes.”

Conceptual artistic rendering of the Summit Arbutus ship. (BC Ferries)

The broad meanings and simplified naming approach contrasts greatly with BC Ferries’ decision in late 2025 to name the incoming new expansion fleet of Island-class vessels using Indigenous languages, based on the names provided by several local First Nations. This resulted in the four ship names of Island Gwa’yam, Island K’asa, Island xwsaĺux̌ul, and Island sarlequun.

BC Ferries attracted significant national attention and controversy last year when it announced that the four Summit-class vessels would be built at a state-owned shipyard in Mainland China. The decision sparked debate over Canada’s shipbuilding capacity and the awarding of major public-sector contracts to foreign shipyards.

In response, provincial and federal officials pledged to place renewed emphasis on strengthening Canada’s shipbuilding industry. This includes exploring measures to improve the production capacity and price competitiveness of Canadian shipyards, with the goal of positioning them to compete more effectively for future ferry construction projects, including potential additional orders of Summit-class vessels.

Part of the controversy also stemmed from federal Crown corporation Canada Infrastructure Bank providing BC Ferries with a $1-billion, low-cost loan to help support the cost of ordering Chinese-built ships.

The ferry company defended its decision to go with the Chinese state-owned shipyard as a highly pragmatic one. It argued that there were no Canadian bids — even though they were invited to participate in the procurement process — and that the lowest-cost European bid was $1.2 billion higher than the Chinese bid. Moreover, the Chinese shipyard could meet BC Ferries’ urgent delivery timelines, given that these four Summit-class ships will be used to retire rapidly aging vessels — three C-class ship and one V-class ship — that are increasingly becoming unreliable.

Even if Canadian shipyards were to bid, they would have a delivery start time years later on, as the domestic manufacturers are currently preoccupied with building the federal government’s major order for the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Coast Guard. As well, building the ships domestically would carry a significant cost premium, necessitating very significant fare hikes — beyond the existing fare increase pressures already expected for later this decade — and/or major government subsidies, which have not been forthcoming.

The price of this contracted order was not publicly disclosed to help protect the price competitiveness of future vessel orders.

The Summit class will be BC Ferries’ largest ships — exceeding the size and capacity of even the fleet’s largest vessels, the pair of Spirit-class ships. These new ships will have a length of 172 metres, a width of about 28 metres, a maximum displacement of 11,800 tonnes, with each carrying up to 2,100 passengers and crew, 358 cars, and 34 semi trucks. This represents an increase of over 1,000 passengers and about 80 more vehicles compared to some of the vessels they will replace.

The vessels will provide greatly enhanced reliability and capacity to meet the growing demand being experienced on the major routes. There will also be enhanced passenger amenities for a more comfortable experience, including for pet passengers, as these vessels will feature BC Ferries’ first indoor pet lounge on a passenger deck.

This week, BC Ferries also announced it is launching a bidding process seeking technology platform suppliers to propose new digital solutions for the onboard food and beverage services and retail of the Summit-class ships. This is intended to help ensure the continued efficient and smooth operations of such onboard services, especially with the high passenger capacities and different passenger deck configurations. Potential new digital solutions being explored include touchscreen ordering kiosks, mobile ordering options, improved pickup systems, and stronger integration between customer orders and food preparation processes.

Preliminary conceptual artistic rendering of the Summit-class ships (New Major Vessels). (BC Ferries)

Preliminary conceptual artistic rendering of the Summit-class ships (New Major Vessels). (BC Ferries)

Layout of the three indoor passenger decks; preliminary conceptual artistic rendering of the Summit-class ships (New Major Vessels). (BC Ferries)

Indoor pet lounge on a passenger deck; preliminary conceptual artistic rendering of the Summit-class ships (New Major Vessels). (BC Ferries)

Moreover, the Summit-class ships will be hybrid-battery vessels, with the future capability to fully convert into 100 per cent battery-powered vessels, which also necessitates the installation of charging infrastructure at the ferry terminals.

“Many of our largest ships are approaching the end of their expected service life, and these new vessels are a critical part of renewing service on our busiest routes. We believe that the first four Summit Class vessels will play an important role in improving reliability, adding capacity and strengthening the system over the long term,” continued Jimenez.

BC Ferries had hoped to order a fifth Summit-class vessel to serve as a spare, providing additional capacity, service continuity, and greater fleet resilience. The extra vessel would help mitigate the significant service disruptions that occur when ships are unexpectedly taken out of service because of mechanical failures.

However, just weeks before the selected shipyard contractor was announced, the independent BC Ferries Commissioner approved the purchase of only four vessels instead of the five requested. At the time, BC Ferries criticized the decision as shortsighted, arguing that the selected Chinese shipyard offered highly competitive pricing and that deferring the fifth vessel would ultimately increase costs due to inflation over time. In the ferry company’s view, the decision merely delayed an inevitable purchase while making it more expensive.

The Chinese shipyard is scheduled to begin the steel cutting process for the four new Summit-class ships in Fall 2026. The ships will enter service between 2029 and 2031.

A future additional order of up to three Summit-class ships will be made at a later time, potentially entering service around 2037.

Over time, the Summit class is expected to become one of the dominant vessel classes in the BC Ferries fleet. In the years leading up to the procurement process, BC Ferries worked closely with naval architects and engineers to develop and optimize a vessel design that would ultimately be built by future shipyards.

This marks a significant departure from previous practice. Rather than having shipyards develop their own designs based on performance and technical specifications outlined in the bidding process, BC Ferries created the standardized design itself and required bidders to construct the vessel according to that blueprint.

“As we build the Summit Class, consistency matters,” said Ed Hooper, the head of fleet renewal at BC Ferries.

“We are designing these vessels as a standardized Class so they can operate interchangeably across our major routes. Today, operating multiple vessel types can limit flexibility when issues arise. The Summit Class will be a fleet of identical, interoperable vessels, which makes it easier to move vessels when and where they’re needed, aligning seamlessly with terminal infrastructure, and enabling consistent crewing and scheduling — ultimately helping BC Ferries to deliver more reliable service for our customers.”

Ahead of the arrival of the first of the new Summit-class ships, BC Ferries will soon receive the four new additional Island-class vessels from the original European shipyard company that built the first six vessels of this class. These arrivals will grow the size of this fleet class to a total of 10 ships. All four additional Island-class ships are expected to enter service on minor routes in 2027.

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