Hornby Island residents, visitors, suppliers, and the Hornby/Denman Ferry Advisory Committee are calling on Jill Sharland, President and CEO of BC Ferries, BC Ferries Services and Authority Boards, and BC Ferries executives to Immediately provide a larger ferry to operate a safer, more serviceable, and accessible ferry service for Route 22, Hornby Island. 

During the off-season, a trip to Hornby Island takes only 1 hour from Vancouver Island. Last summer, trips from Vancouver Island to Hornby were taking up to 6 hours. The long ferry waiting times are causing the cost of living to skyrocket on Hornby and Denman Islands. Suppliers of food and construction materials are raising their delivery rates, which affects everyone on the islands.

In November 2021, the 21-car Kahloke, the main ferry to Hornby, was downgraded for the amount of vehicle and passenger weight it can carry. This is because the Kahole is 49 years old and Transport Canada safety testing requirements resulted in downgrading the weight it can carry.

With the new reduced capacity on the Hornby ferry, a worse situation this summer is inevitable.

The Hornby/Denman Ferry Advisory Committee is calling for the following steps to be applied:

1. Immediately get Route 22, the Hornby ferry, a newer vessel with serviceable capacity.

2. Immediately match increasing the ferry capacity on Route 22, with more capacity on Route 21 that provides access to Denman and Hornby from Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island.

BC Ferries’ own calculations show that the Hornby and Denman ferries have the worst performance ratings in the entire fleet in terms of summer overloads and ferry waits. Census information shows a 19 percent increase in population on Denman and more than 20 percent on Hornby between 2016 and 2021.

In February, BC Ferries announced that the capacity on the Hornby and Denman ferries will increase in 2026. Please sign this petition to tell BC Ferries that 2026 is not soon enough. Change needs to happen now.