![]() “We have 30 years of experience and I have no doubt we understand the market and how to serve it.” “No one knows these waters better than we do and that is a very challenging piece of water between Victoria and Vancouver. “I was adamant you can’t do this properly unless you have a large and extremely high-quality, good sea-keeping vessel and that’s exactly what we are going to be doing,” she said. With the partnership with FRS, she now has the vessel. Tall said she has wanted to run a Victoria-to-Vancouver service for years, but wouldn’t do it until the company had the right vessel for the job. Riverside has said its service, which can carry 300 passengers, will be more of a high-end travel experience than a point-to-point transportation link.Īsked if there’s room for two companies on the route, Tall said: “I don’t know, but I’m not worried about that. Tall said Clipper’s new service will be operating this spring, which means it will beat to the marketplace Riverside Marine’s proposed harbour-to-harbour catamaran service.Īustralia-based Riverside, which will operate from the CPR Steamship Terminal, is spending $15 million to get its service to and from Vancouver up and running by July. ![]() “This is a pretty strong signal about people’s confidence in Victoria to have not one but two international companies invest in our city in the marine industry in the space of a couple of months - that’s good news,” she said. Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps called the plan fantastic news for the city, adding it dovetails with the city’s economic action plan to grow the experiential tourism market. “I will say it’s larger than anything I have ever operated and at least as fast, if not faster, than anything I have ever operated,” she said. Tall, who will stay on as chief executive officer of Clipper, said she is waiting to disclose what kind of vessel will be used on the route, how many passengers it will carry and how long the trip between the two harbours will take. “This is jobs, this is tourism and this is a really huge investment from Europe.” “The impact to Victoria will be enormous,” she said, noting it means more than doubling the Victoria staff of 22 as well as adding a transportation link between Victoria and the mainland. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Tall said FRS now has the majority stake in Clipper, while she holds onto a significant portion of the company. “This is a major expansion - this allows us to execute on our vision for North America and allows for FRS to execute on its vision for North America,” said Tall, adding the partnership also plans to offer service between Nanaimo and Vancouver and eventually between Cuba and Florida. The Clipper already runs a high-speed passenger-only service between Victoria and Seattle. ![]() Washington State Ferries, a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation, holds a lease on the Sidney ferry terminal through to 2031.The Victoria Clipper, with a new majority owner behind it, plans to expand its operations to include a new harbour-to-harbour service between Victoria and Vancouver.Ĭlipper founder and chief executive Merideth Tall announced Monday she has sold a majority stake in her 30-year-old company to Germany’s FRS, a global ferry and shipping group, and intends to immediately expand Clipper’s passenger-service options from Victoria. The Sidney-Anacortes ferry launched in 1922 with a converted kelp carrier docking at the base of Sidney's Beacon Avenue. ![]() ![]() "There are certainly economic impacts for our local business community, which thankfully has shown remarkable resilience in adapting to the changing realities since 2020," the mayor added. "This is difficult news to receive," Sidney Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith said Tuesday in reaction to the news. Washington State Ferries says the decision not to restore service for at least seven years is due to a lack of staff and the retirement of state vessels. The international ferry operated continuously for nearly a century until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the state ferry service to halt operations. The restart comes after Washington State Ferries announced this week its ferry service between Sidney, B.C., and Anacortes, Wash., would not resume until at least 2030. The fast ferry will operate from Thursday to Monday until April 3, before starting its daily service on April 6. The Clipper ferry resumes service between Victoria and Seattle on Thursday following an annual winter maintenance period. ![]()
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