Victoria Harbour Ferry ceasing operations due to dispute with harbour authority
Posted June 27, 2020 10:58 am.
Last Updated June 27, 2020 11:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — Those taking advantage of the loosened travel restrictions by heading to Victoria this weekend, can be some of the last to ride the harbour ferries there.
Victoria Harbour Ferry, the company that operates the little tour boats will stop offering sailings Tuesday, June 30 after it could not reach an agreement with the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority.
“We regret that the owner has made the decision to suspend operations rather than work with us to sign an agreement,” a release from the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority reads.
“As a sign of good faith, we allowed Victoria Harbour Ferry to restart their operations while we worked through the agreement process. We look forward to working with this company when their agreement is signed.”
The release adds, for the past several months, the authority has been working to support several commercial tenants that hold agreements.
“We created a rent deferral program for all tenants, which has allowed for deferrals from April, May, and June to be paid back up to June 2021. We are also in the process of submitting our application to the Canadian Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program to provide further assistance to our tenants.”
Cruises in Vancouver have been suspended until Oct. 31, 2020 and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority says because of the suspensions, it will not be receiving 70 per cent of the forecasted revenues or $12.5 million for this fiscal.
“For our organization to operate without agreements in place with our commercial tenants only puts us at further risk.”
Victoria Harbour Ferry had been running from the dock outside the Empress Hotel for the last 30 years.
