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Gabriolans have two weeks left – until July 9 – to let BC Ferries know what they think of the current proposal for terminal upgrades on the Gabriola ferry route.
This past Sunday, BC Ferries staff – including Communications staff and project managers – hosted an information session at the Gabriola Island Community Hall.
Tamara Olsen, Community Relations Manager for BC Ferries, led the presentation.
This coming fall and winter, and into early spring 2026, BC Ferries is looking to have sailing cancellations over five of seven days a week during terminal work, and want to know which two days of the week should be ‘left alone’ with no cancellations.
Of the 30 islanders who showed up to the information session (70 had RSVP’d they would do so), most had voted for Monday, Thursday, and Friday to be left alone.
When it came to whether it was better to cancel early mornings or later evening sailings, most voted for the 11pm and 11:30pm sailings to be cancelled rather than the early 5:15am and 5:45am sailings, though few vote for only evening or only morning sailing cancellations.
In terms of a timeline, staff say Nanaimo Harbour will be first to get work done, with that starting in October and progressing into November.
Descanso Bay (Gabriola terminal) will be worked on between January and March.
BCF staff say there is more work involved with the Gabriola terminal, so there will be more service interruptions involved with the Gabriola side of the project.
No work will begin until after Thanksgiving – and work is scheduled to be put on hold over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
The entire project is expected to be concluded in May of 2026. Both of the ‘new’ Island Class vessels coming to the Gabriola route are expected to arrive in May, around the same time the terminal project is scheduled to be completed. There is no difference in size or vessel capacity of these new vessels, they have the same vehicle and passenger capacity as the current vessels serving the Gabriola route – but are being designed to be operated as completely electric ferries, with charging stations at both terminals.
BCF staff were asked what the contingency plan was if the project couldn’t be completed by May of 2026 – which would mean work being done during the busy summer season.
Project managers said the plans for for the terminal work have been conservative – with the goal being done well ahead of May.
If contingencies are needed, depending on criticality of work needed – work could be put on hold and not completed until after the busy summer season.
Olsen said this is not the first terminal work done, BC Ferries has done terminal work like this before, and has a, “pretty good idea of what this work entails, what the impacts will be, and the lengths of time needed.”
Another question asked was if there was a plan to pre-fabricate larger pieces of the terminal off-site.
BCF staff said yes, that’s how they will be able to cut down the disruption time on site. Anything that can be prefabricated off-site will be.
RFPs for the construction have not been released. When those go out, local trades will be able to bid on work being done, and should contact BCF to get access to the RFP process.
BC Ferries were critiqued during the presentation that there was a noticeable lack of certain demographics at the presentation – in particular families, who had other places to be on a Sunday afternoon at the end of the school year. The same families with high school students who definitely have an interest in sailing cancellations which will happen during the school year.
Olsen said, “you make great points. These things are certainly part of the framework we’ll developing. The school district was invited. We work closely with Island Health to understand how their operations work…BC Hydro, emergency services, the fire chief, those were all invited. We recognize Sundays don’t work for everyone, which is why we have the online engagement tools. We’ve seen great feedback from people who do use the online projects page.”
Project staff explained that the specific terminal work being planned will be rehabilitation work on the marine infrastructure of both terminals.
This includes the terminal trestle, the apron, the pontoons, the floating leads.
More disruptive on the Gabriola side will be the replacement of the apron. There will be no change to the shape of the vehicle ramp.
There will be a widening of the apron – which BCF staff should help with vehicles which struggle in loading and offloading, in particular getting vehicles loaded on to the upper gallery lanes.
The hinge on the ramp and apron is going to be moved, so fewer large vehicles can get hung up on that as well.
There is no expectation of drilling or pile driving to happen during this project.
Steve Earle, former co-Chair of the Gabriola Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC), noted the good news is BCF is not doing the six week shutdown next year that the company announced.
He asked, while some patchwork is getting one in the new plan, when will all the other work get done that is necessary on the Gabriola route? BCF staff said the work now being planned for 2026 is a life extension for the terminals for five years – and the hope is that five years from now, BCF can come back to the community and put in two brand new berths.
Olsen said, “right now, we were able to limit the impacts for this project work to no full closures.
“You are correct that when we look to do full berth rebuild and replacements, there will likely be a need for berth closure….removal of berths and replacement with new ones.
“What that will look like, we don’t really know, because it is not until they’ve one the project scope and understand the implications of how they can do that work, will that be truly defined.”
She clarified that it is estimated that in five years is when Gabriola can expect there to be a full berth rebuild, and yes, it would include the building of a lay-by berth in Nanaimo for the second ship.
In terms of the actual work being planned to start this fall, most will be done overnight.
Olsen said most of the work is going to be done overnight, to mitigate any sailing interruptions.
Work is expected to take five days a week.
Olsen echoed the projects team in saying while there will be a few cancellations associated with the Nanaimo Harbour work this fall; the brunt of the cancellations will be in the late winter into early spring when work is being done on Descanso Bay terminal.
The good news, she said, is that means there is time to hear from Gabriolans on which cancellations will have the least impact.
According to BC Ferries, since they are still in the planning process for the project, the number of required sailing cancellations has not been confirmed. BCF is engaging the community early to help them better understand what days/times are important for to consider.
BC Ferries anticipates the work to take place five days a week, but that cancellations will not be required throughout the entire project or for all five days.
The morning and evening sailings were identified as the options to cancel as certain pieces of work will need longer consecutive windows of time to be completed.
Olsen said what BCF has already heard, loud and clear, is people need time to plan for cancellations.
“They need plenty of time in order to plan and anticipate so they can book their flights, book their specialists.”
She said BCF has contacted Island Health to make sure that they’re aware of the project.
Olsen said there are plans to utilize a water taxi during the cancellations.
She was asked what other accommodations will be put in place – such as hiring GERTIE to do extra runs, for people who have to leave vehicles in Nanaimo.
She said there is a question being asked as part of the engagement on how will someone get to the terminal if they don’t have a car; and where are they going to park their car if they are not taking it on the ferry?
Olsen was asked if there are considerations of extending the second ship’s schedule to offset the pressure on the route that might come from sailing cancellations.
She said it’s one of the things the scheduling team is looking at, pending community input, budget, and traffic patterns.
BCF staff were asked after the meeting if there were any plans to financially assist islanders who may have to book accommodations in Nanaimo due to work or health considerations and the cancellations planned.
Staff said in an email, “In addition to providing residents an opportunity to help shape the project plans, one of the purposes of this pre-planning and consultation is to ensure they are aware of schedule changes well in advance – and can make arrangements, if needed, ahead of any service changes.”
The engagement process is open on the BC Ferries web site at www.bcferriesprojects.ca/db-nh-tp
BCF Communications staff say in the past week, there have been close to 800 visitors to the project page and 250 responses to the quick poll and forum questions.
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