Hullo Ferries Schedules 2026

Hullo is a passenger-only fast ferry between downtown Vancouver and downtown Nanaimo, run by the Vancouver Island Ferry Company. It carries no vehicles at all, which is the entire point: it competes on the walk-on journey rather than on deck space.

Seventy-five minutes, downtown to downtown

Our timetable holds 57 departures — 29 from Vancouver and 28 from Nanaimo — each timetabled at 75 minutes or 80 minutes. Vancouver sailings run from 09:00 to a last one at 23:59, with a Monday-only 00:30 on top; from Nanaimo the span is 07:00 to 22:00. The terminals are in both city centres rather than out at the road-connected ferry ports, so for anyone travelling on foot the comparison is not just the crossing but the drive at each end that this service removes.

Check the day before you check the time

This route varies by weekday more than almost anything else on this site. Of the 29 departures from Vancouver, only 8 run every day of the week — 09:00, 09:15, 13:00, 13:30, 17:15, 17:30, 18:00 and 23:59. The other twenty-one each run on their own combination of days: some Friday to Monday, some midweek only, one on Thursdays alone. A departure you took last week may simply not exist today, so reading the timetable by clock time without checking the day is the specific mistake to avoid here. The current pattern is dated 24 January 2026 to 30 September 2026.

Both ships carry names given by Snuneymuxw First Nation

The two vessels have hul’q’umi’num’ names gifted by Snuneymuxw First Nation, the company’s long-term partner. spuhéls means wind; sthuqi’ means Sockeye salmon. The Nation’s own words accompany them: spuhéls “has powered our travel since the beginning of time”, and sthuqi’ is described as a community the Ancestors knew as fierce warriors to be treated with the utmost respect.

A treaty from 1854 sits behind the route

The company names the Saarlequun Snuneymuxw Treaty of 1854 as the agreement that preserves and protects the waters this ferry crosses, and describes it as the strongest agreement available in Canada. It is unusual for a ferry operator to put a nineteenth-century treaty on its corporate pages; here it is presented as the basis of the partnership rather than as background colour.

Four jets per ship, and seats you reserve

Each vessel runs on four MTU Rolls-Royce propulsion jets and is laid out across two open decks with handrails throughout. Seating is reservable — you book a specific seat rather than queueing for whatever is free, which is standard on high-speed passenger craft and unusual on this coast, where the dominant model is drive-up vehicle ferries.

What it does not do

No cars, no trucks, no drive-up. If you need a vehicle on Vancouver Island, this service cannot help you and the conventional vehicle ferries remain the only option. What it replaces is the specific journey of a foot passenger going city centre to city centre, which on the older routes means a bus or taxi at both ends on top of the sailing.