The new service is now expected to start on 16 August, but will only operate two return services a day, instead of the planned four, until the end of the month.

Nanaimo headquartered VIFC was founded in 2022. The new HULLO service has been privately funded by Toronto-based Conquora Capital Partners, in partnership with the Port Authority of Nanaimo and the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

The new service operates from Nanaimo's Cruise Terminal to Vancouver's Harbour Flight Centre, within the Vancouver Convention Centre.

The realisation of this new passenger-only fast ferry service has been long awaited, following a number of false dawns. In 2006 a company named Island Ferry Services started a passenger-only service between Nanaimo and Vancouver, but this was short lived.

The daily HULLO service, initially offering four round-trips daily, is operated by the two Damen-built catamaran's SPUHÉLS and STHUQI, which can each carry 354 passengers in three classes – Comfort, Premium and Business.

The two new fast ferries have been built by the Damen Song Cam Shipyard in Haiphong, Vietnam, to the Dutch shipbuilding specialist's Damen DFF 4212 design.

The new Damen catamarans are all aluminium vessels with a length overall of 42.2m, a beam of 11.6m, depth of 3.6m and a draught of 1.5m. Propulsion for each new ferry is provided by four MTU 16V2000 M72 high-speed diesels, providing a total power output of 5,760 kW (7,720 bhp) at 2,350 rev/min. The main engines drive, via four Reintjes WLS 730 gearboxes, four KaMeWa A56 waterjets, giving service speeds of up to 38 knots, and an endurance of 270 nautical miles.

The two new VIFC ferries are the first Damen DFF 4212 design to operate outside of the Far East.

© Shippax / MH