Hullo Ferries adds more sailings for Thanksgiving long weekend

Hullo Ferries ship at the Vancouver terminal on August 20, 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Due to heightened demand, Hullo Ferries is adding even more sailings at the start and end of the Thanksgiving long weekend.

On Friday, October 6 and Monday, October 9, 2023, the high-speed passenger ferry service between downtown Vancouver and downtown Nanaimo will operate six roundtrips (12 sailings) on each day. This is Hullo Ferries’ most sailings per day ever since it launched in mid-August.

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This represents an increase of two roundtrips (four sailings) on the days most people are expected to travel over the long weekend. The schedule for both days — Friday, October 6 and Monday, October 9 — is as follows:

Vancouver to Nanaimo:
- 9 am
- 1 pm
- 3 pm (added)
- 5:30 pm
- 7 pm (added)
- 9:30 pm
Nanaimo to Vancouver:
- 7 am
- 11 am
- 1 pm (added)
- 3:30 pm
- 5 pm (added)
- 7:30 pm

For the middle days over this long weekend (Saturday, October 7 and Sunday, October 8), Hullo Ferries will be operating its regular October schedule of four roundtrips (eight sailings) per day.

Sailings each way are about 75 minutes, with the company advising passengers to book ahead of time. Bookings are closed 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time, and all passengers are required to be aboard at least five minutes before the scheduled departure time.

BC Ferries has also indicated it is expecting to see greater ridership volumes, with about 380,000 passengers and 175,000 vehicles between Thursday, October 5 and Tuesday, October 10. Over 3,000 sailings are scheduled over this period.

“Foot passenger traffic is anticipated to be especially high due to post-secondary students travelling home for the holiday weekend. Foot passenger wait times may occur at peak times and customers travelling on the major routes are strongly urged to make a reservation to secure a spot on their desired sailing,” states BC Ferries.

“Customers travelling without a confirmed booking are strongly encouraged to be dropped off at the terminal and travel as foot passengers as standby vehicle spaces are extremely limited.”

The Coastal Renaissance ship that normally operates between Tsawwassen and Nanaimo is still out of service due to engine issues. It has not been operational since the middle of August, with repairs not expected to be completed until late this year instead of this month. As a result, due to the temporary vessel reshuffle, there will be no additional holiday weekend sailings for the routes from Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay and Langdale.

But there will be four vessels in operation on the route between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay, enabling 70 additional sailings over Thanksgiving.

TransLink has indicated it will deploy extra buses for its routes serving the Horseshoe Bay and Tsawwassen ferry terminals.

Immediately after the long weekend, the Spirit of Vancouver Island vessel will be temporarily removed out of service for ballast tank repairs. The large vessel will be drydocked between October 11 and 18, which means there will be just two vessels operating on the major route between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay. Additional sailings are not possible as there are no spare vessels, and the ferry corporation is warning passengers that overloads are expected throughout the week, especially on October 13 and October 15.

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