Hullo officially unveiled their new ferries on Thursday, July 20 after the pair arrived in Nanaimo late last week. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

anchors away

VIDEO: Hullo officially unveils new Nanaimo fast ferries, including service start date

Jul 20, 2023 | 6:00 AM

NANAIMO — Mark it on the calendar. Following months and months of planning, the city’s new fast ferry link to Vancouver has an official launch date.

Hullo will begin accepting reservations shortly for sailings between downtown Nanaimo and downtown Vancouver beginning Monday, Aug. 14, with four daily round trips initially.

Sailings will travel between the cruise ship dock adjacent to the HeliJet terminal in Nanaimo and next to the Vancouver Convention Centre.

“It’s incredibly exciting for us, really it makes it real,” Alastair Caddick, CEO of Hullo said. “The community can see the vessels here, they can believe that this long awaited service is very close so we’re incredibly excited and proud to have our two vessels home, here in Nanaimo.”

Hullo’s economy, or ‘comfort’ section takes up the entire lower floor of the vessel. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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Service will begin with sailings leaving Nanaimo at 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. or later due to special events.

Return trips from Vancouver will depart at 8 a.m., 12 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. or later if required.

Up to seven daily round trips are planned, with the schedule to ramp up over the coming months.

Fares begin at $39.99 for a one-way trip, with discounts available for seniors, children and when pre-booking a round trip.

While reservations will open for Aug. 14 and onwards next week, Hullo said in their statement travellers should keep a watch “after July 28th for earlier sailing dates that may become available for booking”.

Premium sections for business and premium travellers is upstairs on board. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Caddick said they’re treating the next few weeks and an eventual mid-August target similar to how a restaurant would conduct a soft opening.

“We want to ensure we’ve got the safest, most reliable, well run operation so that when we welcome guests aboard, it’s the product and the service we want to deliver to guests. We know we’ll have that by August 14th but things are going well so it’s possible we’ll be able to do that beforehand.”

Additional services are planned, including a shuttle bus, for people to make easier connections to the terminals.

Both vessels, the spuhéls (pronounced shpah-els) and sthuqi’ (pronounced shta-key), arrived in Nanaimo on Friday, July 14 after completing Transport Canada certification in Victoria.

The custom-built 354-seat ships were built in Vietnam and travelled on a cargo ship across the Pacific in late June.

Caddick said arrival of the vessels was like Hullo’s “birthday” and an opportunity for all in Nanaimo to see a tangible representation of the new service.

“It’s fair for people to be skeptical. I think what we’ve been doing over the last number of months, getting out into the community…it’s starting to convince everybody that it is real. What we see when we engage with the community…is that skepticism is nearly gone.”

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