Hullo (ferry)

Hullo, officially the Vancouver Island Ferry Company, is a privately owned passenger ferry service in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It operates up to 6 daily sailings between downtown Vancouver and downtown Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Each one-way trip takes around 75 minutes.^[1]

Hullo Ferries

At the Downtown Vancouver terminal
Locale	British Columbia, Canada
Waterway	Salish Sea
Transit type	Passenger ferry
Owner	Vancouver Island Ferry
Operator	Hullo
Began operation	August 16, 2023
No. of vessels	2
No. of terminals	Vancouver Nanaimo
Website	hullo.com

History

The Vancouver Island Ferry Company was founded in 2022 with funding from Conqora Capital Partners and InfraRed Capital Partners. It is the fifth venture to attempt such a ferry service, following the previous service, HarbourLynx, which ceased operations in February 2006.^[2]

The service was scheduled to begin with a soft launch on August 14, 2023, but was delayed due to power outages in Nanaimo and high winds.^[3] Sailings were also cancelled for the following day. The inaugural departure on August 16 was limited to 189 passengers. Only two daily round trips were scheduled for the first weeks of service.^[4]

In May 2024, Hullo announced it had served 250,000 passengers within its first nine months of service.^[1]

On its one-year anniversary in August 2024, Hullo announced it had served 400,000 passengers in its first year, or approximately 1,100 people daily.^[5] As of August 2025^[update], sailings had increased to 3-6 roundtrips per day, and Hullo had plans to introduce a new route between Vancouver and Victoria.^[6]

Vessels

The company's two vessels were manufactured in Vietnam and delivered in June 2023.^[7] They are both Damen-built Fast Ferry 4212 models,^[8] high-speed catamarans that seat 354 passengers each and have a top speed of 40 knots (74 km/h).^[9]

They are named spuhéls and sthuqi’, meaning wind and Sockeye salmon in the Hul̓q̓umín̓um̓ language used by the Snuneymuxw First Nation on Vancouver Island.

The vessels do not accommodate electric bicycles due to battery fire regulations, but do allow electric wheelchairs after Hullo secured an exemption.^[10][11]