VICTORIA – Greater Victoria Harbour Authority (GVHA) and Riverside Marine BC have reached an offer to lease agreement for the Steamship Terminal, covering both the building and water lot, helping to facilitate a proposed harbour to harbour passenger marine tourism service between Vancouver and Victoria.
Riverside Marine BC is a new company recently set up to operate V2V vacations. It is a division of Riverside Marine, Australia, a family business incorporated in 1926. Today it operates a number of diverse divisions under the Riverside Marine Group, Rivtow Marine, RiverWijs & Fantasea Adventure Cruising brands. Riverside’s Canadian operations, Riverside Marine BC, will be its first expansion into North America.
“By signing to terms on a lease with Riverside Marine BC, we are officially welcoming a new transportation service and tourism experience to our city,” says Ian Robertson, CEO of GVHA. “This new marine related business aligns with the historical use and adds vibrancy and life to Victoria’s Steamship Terminal building.”
The lease terms between GVHA and Riverside Marine BC include both operations and office space in the building as well as leased water lot fronting the Steamship Terminal. The building will house Riverside’s Canadian corporate operations on the top floor, a sales information area on the main floor, and support space on the lower level. The luxury marine experience will initially begin with daily sailings departing Vancouver in the morning, and from Victoria in the afternoon.
The harbour to harbour trip aboard a high speed jet catamaran with capacity of up to 300 passengers is expected to take up to 3.5 hours, and will provide comfortable seating, Wi-Fi, serving of local food and beverages, and guided interpretation of sea and wildlife, oceanography and local geography, West Coast culture and history, with primary focus on a visitor destination experience. Upon arrival, passengers will be provided with numerous options to explore both cities – whether for a short or extended stay.
“We’re pleased to be working with the GVHA and bringing a passenger marine transportation service back to this historic building along the stunning Inner Harbour and we look forward to our visitors experiencing two of the most beautiful harbours in the world and the ocean ways in between,” says Hume Campbell, CEO of Riverside Marine. “We will be working with Tourism Victoria, Tourism Vancouver, Destination BC, and the tourism operators across the province as we strive to create an iconic tourism experience which brings even more visitors to BC.”
Riverside Marine will start work retrofitting its newest addition to the Riverside fleet of passenger catamarans in early 2016. Preliminary services are planned to start during the summer in 2016 with full operations for the 2017 tourism season.
