Our Story

The World-Famous Harbour Ferries have arrived in Nanaimo.

The Harbour Ferry Company was founded in Victoria in 1990 with just two ferry boats. Today the company owns and operates a fleet of 11 small passenger ferries that sail the waters around Victoria, B.C.’s Inner Harbour and the neighbouring Selkirk and Gorge Waterways.

In the spring of 2007 we started our newest service to meet the demands for a new tourist attraction in Nanaimo, the Harbour City. Here we will operate as Nanaimo Harbour Ferry with a start-up fleet of 2 boats that will soon be joined by others.

All but one of our ferry boats were built on Vancouver Island, all can travel at speeds of up to 7 knots (12.5 kilometers per hour or 8 miles per hour) and can carry 12 passengers plus the Skipper. Several of our little boats have traveled a distance equivalent to one and one half times around the equator without ever having left the Victoria harbour. Over the years we have carried more than 1.5 million passengers and have become Victoria’s Number One Tourist Attraction.

Harbour Ferry Captain’s are all Transport Canada Certified and pride themselves on being part ferry Skipper, part historian and part tour guide.

Nanaimo Harbour Ferry stops are located at:

• Fisherman's Market Pier
• Maffeo Sutton Park
• Newcastle

The Harbour Ferry Company main office is located at 1234-N Wharf Street, Victoria, BC V8W 3H9 adjacent to the Hyack Air Terminal and Adventure Centre, which is located on the waterfront at the Victoria Regent Hotel. For further information about our Nanaimo operations, please phone us at 1-877-297-8526 or send us an E-mail.