Proposal for battery-electric ferries linking downtown Vancouver, Bowen Island, and Sunshine Coast gains new momentum

New electric-battery passenger ferry service proposed to link downtown Vancouver with Bowen Island and Sunshine Coast

Vancouver-Bowen-Sunshine Coast ferry proposal gets backing from BC politicians

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

Proposed new Vancouver floating hotel includes onboard public restaurants and bars

Opinion: How Hullo Ferries can transform Nanaimo into the public transit hub of Vancouver Island

Opinion: BC's coastal ferries need passenger-only vessels, not just for cars

In September 2024, Greenline Ferries announced its formal partnership with U.K.-based maritime engineering firm BMT to design the vessels to the operator’s specifications. Over the decades, BMT has created the vessel designs for dozens of passenger-only ferry systems around the world.

Since then, BMT has designed a 32-metre-long aluminum catamaran battery-powered vessel for Greenline Ferries — a variation of its previous models for other clients — with a capacity of up to 150 seated passengers, including wheelchair access. The vessel will have a single passenger level, featuring an outdoor deck at the rear with space for up to 20 bikes. The cockpit will be located on a crew-only secondary level.

Within a lower deck, the batteries will have a storage capacity of 3,612 kWh. For perspective, each vessel’s battery storage capacity is equivalent to 44 times that of the 82 kWh battery in a Tesla Model 3 car.

Using two engines, the vessels are designed for a typical operating speed of 23 knots (43 km/hr).

As these vessels are completely battery powered, their operations will be relatively quiet.

“I’m really excited by the technology that is now possible with all-electric ferries. We’re seeing this technology in various cities around the world, including Singapore, Norway, and Sydney. And this is the technology that can help Vancouver and coastal communities connect in a new way,” said Callum Campbell, the founder and CEO of Greenline Ferries, and the former director of the BC Ministry of Transportation and Transit’s Inland Ferries, during the City Council meeting.

The vessel is designed with multiple possible boarding locations, including articulated gangways that enable the vessel the dock at different sites.

Funding secured, but not the downtown Vancouver terminal

For the downtown Vancouver terminal, Greenline Ferries is proposing to use the existing Harbour Green Dock, located at Harbour Green Park in Coal Harbour. This location is further west of the Harbour Air seaplane and Hullo Ferries terminals, and about a 12-minute walk from the Waterfront Station or Burrard Station public transit hubs, according to Google Maps.

In choosing the Harbour Green Dock location, Callum explained that his team originally considered using the SeaBus terminal at Waterfront Station, and spent two and a half years discussing with TransLink on accessing this purpose-built facility and to provide optimal convenience for passengers.

The use of the SeaBus terminal was also previously contemplated before the pandemic by the failed Island Ferries Services proposal, which was later replaced by a different entity that propelled Hullo Ferries to success. Hullo Ferries operates from the previously unused outer east berth of the seaplane terminal, situated in front of the West Building of the Vancouver Convention Centre.

But TransLink later determined that Cadillac Fairview, its landlord, requires access to the facility, meaning permission would be needed for Greenline Ferries to use the SeaBus terminal.

“We all sat together — TransLink, Greenline, and the landlord — last fall, where we really got to the bottom of this, where there is an unrelated property, a dispute. Until that dispute is resolved, there is no access to the SeaBus terminal,” said Callum.

“We have the funding sources available now to move forward,” continued Callum, emphasizing that funding is not an issue for this project.

In fact, says Callum, finding a suitable site for the downtown Vancouver terminal is now one of the last things his company needs to do to move forward. As of now, the aim is to launch Greenline Ferries services as early as Spring 2027.

“They have been going through this process with trying to get a spot at the Waterfront Station for more than two years,” said independent city councillor Rebecca Bligh, who put forward the member motion, during the City Council meeting.

“They do have equity partners that have been funding this project for two years without a location in Vancouver. We don’t want to see the opportunity with that funding going away.”

Andrew Leonard, the Mayor of Bowen Island, added, “A direct connection to SkyTrain would be just frankly awesome it became clear across many conversations with TransLink over many months that the issues of real estate and tenancy at that site were intractable. This inability to access the Waterfront Station terminal were underscored both at the political level and at the staff level, leaving the site at Harbour Green the only feasible location I think for landing for this project.”

It was also suggested a ridehailing and taxi pick-up and drop-off zone could potentially be established nearby at the West Cordova Street entrance into Harbour Green Park.

But during the City Council meeting, some concerns were expressed that the Harbour Green Dock may not be the most optimal location, given the longer walking distance required to reach Waterfront Station or other SkyTrain stations.

With the potential distance challenges in mind, City Council approved an amended member motion directing City staff to consider not only the use of Harbour Green Park, but also alternative potential convenient locations closer to SkyTrain stations and bus routes.

“You know, having run a retail business before in food services, location actually matters a big deal. You could be off literally 10 metres and that could double your sales or decrease your sales by 50 per cent. So I actually think it’s great that we’re exploring other areas because just looking at this from a very simplistic perspective, if you’re closer to transit that means you’re closer to more people. It opens things up, and it it sets everything up for a greater probability of success,” said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim.

“We enthusiastically support this. This is a complete no-brainer for purely self-serving reasons. This is great for Vancouver, but we also know it’s good for Gibsons and the Sunshine Coast. And if we look at our region holistically, what’s good for Gibsons and the Sunshine Coast is good for Vancouver. It’s good for tourism, it’s good for hotels and restaurants on both sides, it’s just amazing,” continued Sim.

The service also has the expressed support of local tourism bureau Destination Vancouver and Downtown Van (the business improvement association of downtown Vancouver).

40 minutes to Bowen Island, and 70 minutes to Sunshine Coast

From Harbour Green Dock, Greenline Ferries would operate two direct, non-stop routes — one route to Seymour Bay at Bowen Island, and the other route to Gibsons Harbour Landing on the Sunshine Coast.

Combined, Harbour Green Dock would see seven round trips daily. A fully loaded Greenline Ferries vessel would be just under half the capacity of a SeaBus or Hullo Ferries vessel, or roughly equivalent to the load of a 60-foot articulated bus.

The preliminary plan calls for three daily round-trip sailings on the Vancouver-Bowen Island route, with an estimated travel time of 40 minutes each way, and four daily round-trip sailings on the Vancouver-Gibsons route, with an estimated travel time of 70 minutes each way.

In contrast, it can take well over an hour to travel between downtown Vancouver and Snug Cove on Bowen Island via BC Ferries, including the car ride. Using public transit bus services, this multi-modal travel time goes up to about two hours.

And the existing travel time between downtown Vancouver and Langdale on the Sunshine Coast via BC Ferries is about two hours, with longer travel times on the bus.

These travel times could be even longer given the precarious traffic conditions of the Lions Gate Bridge.

“The current car-based ferry system for the island is overloaded with no additional capacity or investment in sight from BC Ferries, and the reality is that Bowen, being a commuter island with the highest frequency of ferry service, spews out multiple ferries of traffic onto the Upper Levels [Highway] and bridges every day,” Leonard told Vancouver City Council.

“It becomes exponentially more congested during the summer as vehicle-based tourism seeks to come to Horseshoe Bay and during these peak times, the frustrations of our residents and visitors from the mainland are palpable. Passionate and the complaints are numerous as they deal with ferry overloads and traffic congestion.”

Greenline Ferries’ terminal facilities at Bowen Island and the Sunshine Coast have also already been identified, following lengthy consultations with local officials and their communities. Callum also noted that ridership models have been developed.

“This Harbour Green Dock location is a great landing spot to complement the landing spot that we’ve put forward in Gibsons Landing. Also, our progress in collaborating with BC Hydro on the charging infrastructure is going tremendously as well so let’s keep the momentum going,” said Silas White, the Mayor of Gibson, during the Vancouver City Council meeting.

Leonard lamented the loss of the downtown Vancouver service by Bowen Land and Sea Taxi, which previously operated a limit service with small 12-passenger capacity boats. This minor service ran for about a decade until February 2018, when the Vancouver Park Board suddenly closed Harbour Green Dock to all pedestrians and vessels due to its deteriorating condition from heavy and inappropriate use by large vessels.

The Park Board then made a decision in Spring 2019 to remove Harbour Green Dock, but that move was subsequently cancelled, with work later undertaken to make some interim repairs to improve the structural integrity, and an ultimate aim to reopen the dock.

In late February 2025, to directly support Greenline Ferries’ efforts, Park Board commissioners unanimously approved a member motion by independent commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky to direct Park Board staff to explore potential commercial partnerships to help fund the necessary upgrades of Harbour Green Dock.

While the dock would receive upgrades, which the company believes would be minimal, Harbour Green Park itself would remain unchanged. Charging equipment, similar to an electric vehicle charging station, would be installed on the dock, with the company collaborating with BC Hydro since September 2024 on an innovative charging solution. The dock would remain open to the public.

“It’s not in great shape… It’s a floating walkway, it’s not it’s not an actual dock, and so that the issue with it is that it’s always broken. If we can find a partner that would pay for the infrastructure and we get to use it in a leisure capacity for leisure vessels, and the thing’s not broken all the time, I think that’s a win if we can get some cars off the road,” said Bastyovanszky during the Park Board meeting.

“I’ve spent time down at Harbour Green, and I think it’s an unused place. I think if we can find a way to increase traffic down there, bring it to life, I think there’s a lot of opportunity that this will unlock.”

After consecutive failures over the past half century, there now appears to be a revival of privately operated interregional commuter passenger ferry services, building on the momentum of Hullo Ferries’ proven service.

Hullo Ferries first launched its high-speed ferry service in August 2023, and operates multiple sailings per day between downtown Vancouver and Nanaimo, with end-to-end travel times of about 70 minutes.

Over the coming years, Hullo Ferries has potential plans to launch a new second route — a high-speed ferry service between downtown Vancouver and Victoria. This would involve an expansion of its fleet of vessels.

And immediately east of Hullo Ferries’ Coal Harbour terminal location, there is a proposal to establish a permanent floating hotel destination, featuring 250 hotel rooms, restaurants, bars, and other publicly accessible amenities accessible from the convention centre seawall.

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• New electric-battery passenger ferry service proposed to link downtown Vancouver with Bowen Island and Sunshine Coast
• Vancouver-Bowen-Sunshine Coast ferry proposal gets backing from BC politicians
• Hullo Ferries celebrates a busy first year, and looks ahead to growth and expansion
• Proposed new Vancouver floating hotel includes onboard public restaurants and bars
• Opinion: How Hullo Ferries can transform Nanaimo into the public transit hub of Vancouver Island
• Opinion: BC's coastal ferries need passenger-only vessels, not just for cars