Victoria Harbour Ferry is closing down after 30 years in business, and its vessels will make their final treks across Victoria鈥檚 Inner Harbour on Tuesday.
Chief executive Barry Hobbis blamed the shutdown on the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority鈥檚 unwillingness to negotiate a new deal for the company to use docks at Fisherman鈥檚 Wharf and on the Inner Causeway in front of the Fairmont Empress Hotel.
Hobbis said without access to those harbour authority-controlled docks, the company is no longer viable, as passengers picked up there represent between 75 and 80 per cent of ferry business.
Victoria Harbour Ferry, with a fleet of 17 vessels, offers tours of the harbour, pub crawls and taxi service from more than a dozen docks.
Hobbis said the authority handed the company a termination letter ending access to the docks as of July 1, which means Victoria Harbour Ferry will cease operations at 8 p.m. June 30.
The company had been working to sustain its operations during the pandemic, he said.
鈥淗aving just returned to some semblance of operation and hope that we will survive, this is an unfortunate and insurmountable blow to our recovery.鈥�
Though it did not have an agreement with the harbour authority, the company had been operating a small fleet of vessels for the past three weeks.
The authority offered a deal to the company earlier this year that would have allowed the ferries to continue operating until next spring. Terms of that offer have not been made public.
Hobbis said he had issues with a number of clauses in the offer, with the biggest sticking point the fact that it would expire next spring, which would be of little use in planning recovery from a pandemic.
鈥淎ny business is looking at three to five years just to get to a recovery level where they may be financially viable again,鈥� he said.
He had hoped to negotiate, but was told the offer was not up for discussion.
An emotional Hobbis said he still can鈥檛 believe the company is being put out of business.
鈥淲e just did not see this happening,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 just can鈥檛 tell you how upset I am. Over 30聽years, tens of thousands of supporters, tremendous support from our community, hundreds of really good people working here over the years and this is the way it comes to an end. I just wish they had been willing to sit down and talk about this. They鈥檙e not. I聽don鈥檛 know why, so that鈥檚 it.鈥�
Hobbis denied the closing announcement is a negotiating tactic. 鈥淚 wish I was playing a card, but it鈥檚 not.鈥�
Harbour authority chief executive Ian Robertson said it tried to work with the company over the past few months, and the deal it offered was designed to be fair and consistent with other operators.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not prepared to cut side deals with particular operators, or with any operators,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have been more than fair with what we鈥檝e put in front of them.鈥�
Asked if it was worth losing the long-time operator, Robertson noted that it was Victoria Harbour Ferry that decided to suspend operations. He said he remains open to making a deal with the company. 鈥淢y line is always open.鈥�
Victoria Harbour Ferry, founded in 1990 with two boats, says it has carried more than four million passengers in its three decades in business.
鈥淲hat has been lost here is an iconic service for locals and visitors alike,鈥� said Paul Nursey, chief executive of Destination Greater Victoria, who was holding out hope Friday that mediation could be used to find an agreement.
He said the real culprit here is the pandemic.
鈥淏oth organizations involved have had their business models obliterated by the pandemic as has the entire visitor economy. Both parties have had virtually no revenues for months so this result is not surprising,鈥� he said.
Nursey again called for one-time emergency solvency measures from government.
鈥淔or decades, our industry has contributed untold billions of dollars to the coffers of all levels of government,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he provincial government has commented that they do plan to fill gaps behind the federal government, with the $1.5 billion economic recovery program. The聽time for waiting is over.
鈥淭his is not a drill. A highly valued industry teeters on the edge of collapse, yet there are more rounds of consultation forthcoming in the weeks ahead. I聽regret we could see more significant business failures in the weeks ahead.鈥�
