A private ferry connecting harbours in Vancouver and Victoria has shut down.
V2V Vacations says it “made the difficult decision” to stop the passenger ferry service immediately.
It says passengers who have purchased tickets for travel in 2020 should contact the company for a full refund.
Australian-based Riverside Marine Group launched V2V Vacations with a 242-passenger catamaran, the V2V Empress, offering what was billed as a “premium” 3 1/2-hour crossing, leaving Vancouver in the early morning and returning in the early afternoon.
But in a statement, general manager Julian Wright says it would not be “economically viable” to continue operations this year.
The service began almost three years ago but suffered a setback when the catamaran required replacement of both its engines a few months after it began operating, sending the vessel to drydock until January 2018.
Wright says V2V recorded “double-digit growth” in passengers last year but “financial prospects remain unsatisfactory to sustain the business.”
“We are disappointed but also acutely aware of the pressures and challenges that we faced in running such an ambitious venture,” he says in the statement.
A ferry service carrying passengers only between Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo has been tried unsuccessfully in the past.
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