A public reference property of Baalvion

Open data · every figure carries its source

World Shipping DirectoryCompanies · Ships · Fleets

BC Ferries

British Columbia Ferry Services Inc.

Headquarters: Victoria
Founded: 1960
Employees: —

Official website

Photo: Ericlee5 at English Wikipedia · Public domain · file

Ships in this registry

Counted from individual vessel records · Wikidata

Reported fleet size

—

No published figure available

Container capacity

—

Not a ranked container line

Gross tonnage on record

221,007

Summed over 27 ships reporting tonnage

In brief

What BC Ferries is

Full article ↗

British Columbia Ferry Services Inc., operating as BC Ferries (BCF), is a former provincial Crown corporation, now operating as an independently managed, publicly owned Canadian company. BC Ferries provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Set up in 1960 to provide a similar service to that provided by the Black Ball Line and the Canadian Pacific Railway, which were affected by job action at the time, BC Ferries has become the largest passenger ferry line in North America, operating a fleet of 41 vessels with a total passenger and crew capacity of over 27,000, serving 47 locations on the B.C. coast.

The federal and provincial governments subsidize BC Ferries to provide agreed service levels on essential links between the BC mainland, coastal islands, and parts of the mainland without road access. The inland ferries operating on British Columbia's rivers and lakes are not run by BC Ferries. The responsibility for their provision rests with the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, which contracts operation to various private sector companies.

Quoted from BC Ferries on English Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Corporate profile

Identity and registration

Legal name: British Columbia Ferry Services Inc.
Industry: —
Legal form: —
Country of registration: Canada
Headquarters: Victoria
Formed in: Victoria
Founded: 1960
Dissolved: —
Employees: —
Head office coordinates: 48.4222, -123.3657

Ships on record here: 44
Vessel types operated: 2
Flag states used: 3
Average vessel age: 36.9 years
Oldest vessel on record: 1951
Newest vessel on record: 2021
Largest vessel by tonnage: 21,777
Average tonnage: 8,185
Market share: —
Parent company: —
Alliance: —
Record source: wikidata
Last refreshed: 2026-09-05

Fleet on record

What this company sails

Composition of the 44 vessels this registry attributes to BC Ferries. Bars are true proportions of that set, not of the company's full fleet.

By vessel type

By flag state

By shipbuilder

Victoria Machinery Depot5

Allied Shipbuilders4

Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited4

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft4

Remontowa Shipbuilding3

Burrard Dry Dock2

Burrard Yarrows, Victoria1

Delivery history

10-year fleet record

Ships delivered in each of the last 10 years, counted from the recorded build year of vessels attributed to this company, with the running total of its fleet on record. 9 deliveries fall inside this window.

Year	Ships delivered	Gross tonnage added	Fleet on record
2017	2	17,456	37
2018	0	—	37
2019	0	—	37
2020	4	—	41
2021	3	—	44
2022	0	—	44
2023	0	—	44
2024	0	—	44
2025	0	—	44
2026	0	—	44

Vessel records

Ships on record

44 vessels

Ship	IMO	Type	Flag	Built	Gross tonnage	Deadweight	Length	Builder
MV Coastal Celebration	9332779	Unclassified	Canada	2008	21,777	2,350	160.0 m	Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft
MV Coastal Inspiration	9332767	Unclassified	Canada	2007	21,777	1,770	160.0 m	Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft
MV Coastal Renaissance	9332755	Unclassified	Canada	2007	21,777	2,366	160.0 m	Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft
MV Spirit of British Columbia	9015668	Unclassified	Canada	1993	18,747	—	168.0 m	Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited
MV Spirit of Vancouver Island	9030682	Unclassified	Canada	1994	18,747	2,925	168.0 m	Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited
Northern Expedition	9408413	Ferry	Canada	2009	17,729	—	150.8 m	Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft
MV Queen of Coquitlam	7411155	Unclassified	Canada	1976	13,646	—	139.0 m	Burrard Yarrows Corp., North Vancouver
MV Northern Adventure	9257735	Unclassified	Canada	2004	9,925	1,640	117.0 m	Atsalakis Yards, Perama, Greece
MV Queen of New Westminster	6413663	Unclassified	Canada	1964	8,785	1,765	130.0 m	Victoria Machinery Depot
Salish Eagle	9750282	Unclassified	Canada	2017	8,728	—	107.2 m	Remontowa Shipbuilding
Salish Orca	9750270	Unclassified	—	2016	8,728	—	107.2 m	Remontowa Shipbuilding
Salish Raven	9750294	Unclassified	Canada	2017	8,728	—	107.2 m	Remontowa Shipbuilding
MV Queen of Oak Bay	7902283	Unclassified	Canada	1981	6,969	—	139.0 m	Burrard Yarrows, Victoria
MV Queen of Cowichan	7411143	Unclassified	Canada	1976	6,551	—	139.0 m	Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited
MV Princess of Vancouver	5284998	Unclassified	Panama	1955	5,554	—	134.0 m	Alexander Stephen and Sons
MV Queen of Chilliwack	7700415	Unclassified	Fiji	1978	5,011	—	100.0 m	Framnæs Mekaniske Værksted
MV Queen of Burnaby	6510148	Ferry	Canada	1965	4,902	—	105.3 m	Victoria Machinery Depot
Malaspina Sky	9370458	Unclassified	Canada	2008	4,313	—	102.5 m	Seaspan Marine Corporation
Skeena Queen	9137090	Ferry	Canada	1997	2,652	—	110.0 m	Allied Shipbuilders
MV Quinsam	8111386	Unclassified	Canada	1982	1,458	—	86.9 m	Vancouver Shipyards Co Ltd., North Vancouver
Tachek	6920343	Unclassified	Canada	1969	1,119	—	49.5 m	Allied Shipbuilders
Quadra Queen II	7003439	Unclassified	Canada	1969	936	—	48.6 m	Allied Shipbuilders
MV Baynes Sound Connector	9739252	Unclassified	Canada	2015	753	—	78.5 m	—
Kuper	9029267	Unclassified	Canada	1985	537	—	52.2 m	—
Kahloke	7330595	Unclassified	Canada	1973	466	—	54.7 m	—
Kwuna	7512117	Unclassified	Canada	1975	347	—	71.6 m	Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited
Klitsa	7228481	Unclassified	Canada	1972	345	—	47.4 m	—
Island Aurora	9831763	Unclassified	Canada	2020	—	—	—	—
Island Discovery	9831751	Unclassified	—	2020	—	—	—	—
Island K'ulut'a	9900588	Unclassified	—	2020	—	—	—	—
Island Kwigwis	9900590	Ferry	Canada	2021	—	—	—	—
Island Nagalis	9900576	Unclassified	—	2020	—	—	—	—
MV Island Gwawis	9900605	Ferry	Canada	2021	—	—	—	Damen Group
MV Nicola	5287744	Unclassified	Canada	1960	—	—	33.5 m	Allied Shipbuilders
MV Queen of Alberni	7414080	Unclassified	Canada	1976	—	—	139.3 m	—
MV Queen of Prince Rupert	6525179	Unclassified	Canada	1966	—	—	101.1 m	Victoria Machinery Depot
MV Queen of Surrey	7902221	Unclassified	Canada	1981	—	—	139.3 m	Burrard Dry Dock
MV Queen of the North	6917267	Unclassified	Canada	1969	—	—	125.0 m	AG Weser
MV Quinitsa	7710965	Unclassified	Canada	1977	—	—	75.0 m	—
Queen of Sidney	5288011	Ferry	—	1960	—	—	102.4 m	Victoria Machinery Depot
Queen of the Islands	5425255	Ferry	—	1963	—	—	71.9 m	Burrard Dry Dock
Queen of Victoria	5288047	Unclassified	—	1962	—	—	129.9 m	Victoria Machinery Depot
Salish Heron	9905746	Ferry	Canada	2021	—	—	—	—
Vacationland	5428568	Ferry	Canada	1951	—	—	119.3 m	Great Lakes Engineering Works

Ships in registry counts individual vessel records attributed to the company here. Reported fleet is the company’s published total. They measure different things and are shown separately on purpose.

In context

How BC Ferries compares

Counts over companies and vessels actually held in this directory — not over the world fleet, which is larger. Nothing here is estimated.

With 44 vessels attributed to it here, BC Ferries is the 19th largest of the 965 operators in this directory that hold at least one ship on record, against a median of 2 across that group. That is a count of individually identified hulls, not the company’s published fleet size — the two are different measurements and both are shown above where available.

Canada is the country of registration for 23 commercial operators in this directory, among which BC Ferries ranks 1st by ships on record. Between them those companies hold 92 vessels here. See every operator registered in Canada.

Founded in 1960, BC Ferries is 66 years old. This directory holds 74 operators founded within five years either side of that date, whose median fleet on record is 1 ships. The median founding year across all commercial operators here is 1966, and the oldest on record dates to 1514.

Provenance

Where this page comes from

Company and vessel recordsWikidata item Q795723, released under CC0. Counted figures on this page are counts over those records.

Written summaryQuoted from BC Ferries on English Wikipedia, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Published fleet figuresNo published fleet figure is available for this company.

Framnæs Mekaniske Værksted1