Hullo Ferries celebrates busy first year, looks ahead to expansion

Hullo Ferries celebrates a busy first year, and looks ahead to growth and expansion

Hullo Ferries ship at the downtown Vancouver terminal. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

“I think there are probably some people who didn’t think we would make it to the end of year one,” said Hullo Ferries CEO Alastair Caddick in an interview with Daily Hive Urbanized on Monday.

As the high-speed passenger ferry service between downtown Vancouver and downtown Nanaimo officially celebrates its one-year anniversary on August 16, 2024, it does so following a year of remarkable success.

To date, Hullo Ferries has served over 400,000 passengers and completed more than 3,200 sailings. This is up from the previous ridership milestones of 250,000 passengers by April 2024, 150,000 passengers by February 2024, and 100,000 passengers by December 2023.

Furthermore, July 2024 was the service’s best month ever for ridership, and August 2024 is on track to beat that record.

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These strong ridership volumes are accomplished using the service’s two 350-seat catamaran vessels — Spuhéls and Sthuqi’ — which reach speeds of up to 40 knots (74 km/hr) over open water in the Strait of Georgia, achieving end-to-end travel times of about 75 minutes.

This service has proven to be a game-changer, offering a viable alternative to BC Ferries and positioning itself as a “middle” option between BC Ferries and more premium services like Harbour Air and Helijet. And unlike BC Ferries, Hullo Ferries provides free WiFi for all passengers as a major amenity offering.

Hullo Ferries ship at the downtown Vancouver terminal. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

A focus on optimizing reliability

Since April 1, 2024, Hullo Ferries has further improved its reliability, delivering 99.3% of its sailing schedule and achieving a 96% on-time departure performance.

“That’s really exceptional, which means people can trust us,” said Caddick. “If we say we’re going to sail, we do our utmost to sail, and we track that. The other thing that we’re very focused on is on-time departures.”

“If you’re going to trust using our service, you expect us to sail. You expect us to sail to the schedule that we’ve promised, and you expect us to sail and depart on time.”

As another measure of service quality, Caddick notes that Hullo Ferries’ Google Review scores have improved in recent months, and this is also accompanied by numerous positive comments. As of today, Hullo Ferries has achieved a favourable rating of 4.1 out of 5.0 stars on Google Reviews, based on 362 reviews.

“We’re thrilled with the great reviews we’re getting. Of course, we get some constructive criticism on things that we can improve, and we’re always working on things that are within our control,” he continued.

This follows an extremely challenging debut last year, when a strong wind warning from Environment and Climate Change Canada cancelled the scheduled inaugural sailings on August 14, 2023. This was compounded by mechanical issues that affected some of the rescheduled inaugural sailings on August 16, 2023.

There were also some instances of weather and mechanical-related disruptions to services into the fall and winter months.

hullo ferries vancouver nanaimo august 16 2023

Vancouver terminal; Hullo Ferries’ inaugural day of service on August 16, 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

However, highlighting the learning curve, Caddick notes that his team has gained valuable insights from their experiences over the past year in navigating rougher seas, which has enabled them to reduce the risk of service disruptions and improve reliability.

“Our crews have become more experienced. In certain cases, depending on the weather, we can adjust what route or adjust our speed to make it a more pleasant sailing. I can’t promise that there will never be another cancellation for weather because there will be,” Caddick said in the interview with Daily Hive Urbanized.

“But I can say that given the things that we’ve learned in our first year of operation, we’ve learned more about the conditions, what’s comfortable for guests, and how to handle those conditions. So there will be fewer cancellations than there were in our first year.”

The other part of the equation to service reliability is the maintenance of vessels.

Currently, during the peak summer season, Hullo Ferries is regularly operating up to seven roundtrips per day (14 sailings per day), which does not include special event sailings.

The service operates less frequently mid-week, with just three regular roundtrips on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (six sailings on each of these days).

Caddick explains that Tuesdays and Wednesdays generally experience lower passenger numbers, making these days more suitable for preventative maintenance and cleaning. As a result, one of the two vessels will be docked at the homeport in Nanaimo, and the service will operate on a reduced schedule with just one vessel on those days. If demand increases, there is still sufficient capacity to add more sailings, whether operating with one or two vessels.

Caddick also noted that they have rarely ever needed to cancel sailings because of crew issues, which has been a continuing issue for BC Ferries.

Late-night special event sailings are a big hit

Hullo Ferries has also found immense success with its late-night special event sailings, which provide Vancouver Island residents with a more affordable and convenient way of returning home after attending a sports event, concert, and other major events in Vancouver.

BC Ferries’ services are often inconvenient for Vancouver Island residents due to their schedules and the additional travel time required to reach terminals located in far-flung areas from downtown Vancouver. Previously, it was common for Vancouver Island residents attending events in Vancouver to book overnight hotel stays. However, with hotel room rates rising significantly over the past two years, this option has become more challenging.

Hullo Ferries began their first special event sailings in early September 2023, starting with the Beyonce concert at BC Place Stadium.

Currently, based on when a specific event is anticipated to end, the return trip for special event sailings departs downtown Vancouver as late as 11:55 pm for arrival at 1:15 am.

“Event sailings sometimes do sell out,” said Caddick, who noted that most of these sailings timed after the Vancouver Canucks’ Stanley Cup playoffs run this past spring were sold out.

There were also sellouts for this year’s Pearl Jam concert at Rogers Arena, and the Rolling Stones concert and the BC Lions season opener at BC Place Stadium.

For the remainder of 2024, special event sailings are planned for the PNE Fair, pre-season Canucks games, and the Grey Cup, plus other sporting events and major concerts.

Although Hullo Ferries recommends its customers to book online in advance, especially for special event sailings, Caddick notes that the overwhelming majority of the scheduled regular sailings have space for any walk-up passengers to accommodate any last-minute bookings.

Improving terminal amenities and accessibility

Caddick also shared the Hullo-operated free shuttle bus service between select downtown Nanaimo destinations and Hullo Ferries’ terminal at the Port of Nanaimo facility has proven to be very popular. It is otherwise a walk through industrial port lands between the ferry terminal and the southern edge of downtown — about a 15-minute walk to Port Place Shopping Centre and the bus loop.

For example, Caddick mentions that on Monday, when he travelled from Vancouver to Nanaimo, every seat on the 20-seat shuttle bus from the Nanaimo terminal was occupied.

“It’s very popular both ways,” he said, noting that Hullo Ferries is continuously looking to improve this service for accessing the Nanaimo terminal. The shuttle bus service first launched in late October 2023.

Hullo Ferries free shuttle bus between downtown Nanaimo and the Hullo terminal at the Port of Nanaiom. (Hullo Ferries)

Most recently, Hullo Ferries established the “Hullo Nanaimo Hub” at 10 Church Street in downtown Nanaimo, which is designed to provide a more convenient waiting area in Nanaimo’s city centre for passengers travelling on the free shuttle bus to and from the Nanaimo terminal. This designated hub — a retail store located on the main level of their headquarters office building — is also where passengers can purchase ferry tickets, buy merchandise, and ask questions.

Major improvements were also just made to the facilities at the Nanaimo terminal, which now provides a larger outdoor waiting area for ferry passengers and a wider variety of food and beverage options.

But Caddick says similar improvements to the downtown Vancouver terminal will have to wait, which currently lacks Hullo-operates amenities and waiting areas — apart from a small Hullo Ferries ticketing office on the east side of Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building. Hullo Ferries’ downtown Vancouver terminal is located just north of the West Building (north of Jack Poole Plaza and Tap & Barrel).

While the company acknowledges the need for a more comfortable, weather-protected waiting area, especially based on passenger feedback, Caddick notes that, unlike at the downtown Nanaimo terminal, they currently lack the spatial flexibility to make this investment at the downtown Vancouver terminal.

“We’re very limited in the space that we have, given the footprint of the Vancouver Convention Centre and the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre. We are in discussions to see if we can provide a better waiting area and guest area in Vancouver, but nothing imminent in, you know, nothing in the near term. We’re limited by the space that the landlord provides us,” Caddick told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“We would like to improve it, and so we’re certainly working on it, but I don’t have any concrete plans to say what we’re going to be doing… It’s something that we might have to be patient until some space opens up.”

Passengers waiting to board a Hullo Ferries ship at the Vancouver terminal on August 25, 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

However, he suggested that if a suitable retail space became available along the convention centre’s seawall next to the ferry terminal, the company “would leap at the chance to get a better space.”

For example, the defunct V2V Vacations luxury excursion ferry service to Victoria previously used a large retail unit next to De Dutch restaurant (immediately adjacent to Hullo Ferries’ dock) as its lounge, ticketing, and customer service space, but it is now occupied by Rejuvenation Dermatology & Plastic Surgery Centre Coal Harbour.

Regular bikes permitted onboard possibly by end of 2024

Early on, Hullo Ferries received some criticism for not allowing a wide range of mobility devices aboard its vessels.

Caddick says that as of about half a year ago, they have begun to permit battery-powered wheelchairs.

And they are “actively working” on a plan to allow regular bikes on board. It was previously suggested that this could be through an online reservation system, given the spatial constraints of the small passenger-only vessels.

His team would like to enable regular bikes on board before the end of 2024.

But e-bikes and e-scooters will continue to be banned from being carried aboard due to the fire risk with the battery on these devices.

“We cannot take the risk of that happening on our vessel, because we’re out on the water and these are aluminum vessels. I appreciate how rare it is, but with a battery-powered bicycle, we can’t afford even the rarest instance of one of those catching fire on our vessel,” Caddick told Daily Hive Urbanized.

Comfort (economy) seats on Hullo Ferries. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Large luggage storage areas on a Hullo Ferries vessel. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Since March 2024, for an extra fee, passengers have been allowed to bring aboard up to three large bags or one piece of large sports gear for storage in a designated area. Passengers are asked to book and reserve the designated spots for large bags in advance due to the limited space on board.

Second route to Victoria and an expanded fleet on the horizon

In August 2023, Daily Hive Urbanized first reported Hullo Ferries’ vision to eventually add a second route between Vancouver and Victoria by operating a significantly expanded fleet of vessels.

Caddick reaffirmed this week that such a plan for significant growth is still in the company’s “planning horizon.”

“It’s something that we continue to explore, but we are still very focused on Nanaimo. I would say the majority of our energy is focused on making the Nanaimo to Vancouver route very successful. But the medium-term horizon is to explore a second route” between Vancouver to Victoria.

“It’s not something that we are at a point where we can commit to launching it and providing a launch date,” he added.

When asked about his vision for Hullo Ferries in five years, Caddick responded with a focus on “continued growth.” In an ideal scenario, by 2029, he envisions the company operating a second route and expanding to a fleet of at least five vessels.

Hullo Ferries vessels at the Nanaimo Port Authority facility. (Hullo Ferries)

An expanded fleet would allow Hullo Ferries to operate with increased frequency and introduce an additional route while also providing spare vessels to ensure service continuity in case of mechanical issues or other scenarios that render a vessel inoperable.

Hullo Ferries already boasts significantly greater redundancy compared to the short-lived HarbourLynx service, which was the last attempt at a high-speed passenger ferry between downtown Vancouver and Nanaimo. HarbourLynx went bankrupt in 2006, shortly after its sole vessel experienced a catastrophic engine failure that rendered it inoperable without costly repairs.

V2V Vacations launched in 2017 and shut down in early 2020 just before the pandemic. But unlike Hullo Ferries and HarbourLynx, as the name suggests, V2V Vacations operated infrequently and marketed itself as a luxury tour experience between Vancouver and Victoria.

There were also previous unsuccessful attempts at high-speed passenger ferry services, including the use of similar catamarans in the early 1990s and hovercraft services in the 1980s and 1960s.

While previous high-speed passenger ferry services on the South Coast of BC have failed, all signs indicate that Hullo Ferries is here to stay.

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