“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. 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. 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
