Duke Point terminal - photos & discussion

[Scott (Former Account)]

DUKE POINT TERMINAL CELEBRATES 10 YEARS

On Friday, June 15, 2007, BC Ferries will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Duke Point terminal, the mid-island gateway to the Tsawwassen terminal and the Lower Mainland.

The celebration will include complimentary burgers, hot dogs and soft drinks, prize draws and children’s activities for customers from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm.

“Since opening our doors over 13.9 million customers and 5.7 million vehicles have travelled through this facility and we are proud to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Duke Point terminal,” said Manuel Achadinha, BC Ferries’ Vice President of Terminal Operations. “Our company plays a critical role in the shipment of goods and services essential to the growing economy of Vancouver Island and we want to thank our customers for their continued patronage.”

The route between Tsawwassen and Nanaimo was established in 1991 and was operated from BC Ferries’ Departure Bay terminal prior to the opening of the Duke Point terminal in 1997.
For 16 years, BC Ferries has provided service between the Tsawwassen and the mid-Island, which is a route favoured by commercial customers. The early morning sailing allows truckers to get a jump-start on the day and the route provides a third link between the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

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News Release URL located here...

[Scott]

Well, if you don't have a job... there's a free meal for you!

[Ferryman]

Back on topic here....

On June 7th, 1997, I had the opportunity to attend the open house for Duke Point. I was like 8 years old at the time, but I still remember what it was like that day. The next day, June 8th, Duke Point was open for Business. Here's a pamplet I had recieved from the open house, as I was greeted at the Departures Door of the Terminal.















I'll post the other pamplet I have tomorrow, as I have very little patience with my scanner right now, and it's also getting late....

[Curtis]

Thanks for sharing that pamphlet, Chris. The years go by fast. When Duke Point opened, I was only...About a week and a half from turning 5 now 10 years later I'm just a day from turning 15 and Duke Point Terminal is 10 years and a week and a half old. A decade goes so fast even though I wasn't at my full ferry intrest back then. But enough of my ramble.
10 Years of Duke Point Terminal. Over a decade and a half of the Mid Island Express.

[Mike C]

I have the 10 year plan brochure, and it has a little blurb about Duke Point opnening in 1997. The rest of the spaces is taken up by the fastcats.

[NMcKay]

Look...it looks like theres a berth 2 in that photo

[kev]

I remember seeing that terminal built. my dad worked for hub city paving, they did all the paving work at the terminal and the duke point highway. I can remember before the terminal was even started, going out there and seeing where it was going to be. cant believe its been 10 years.

[Low Light Mike]

It has also now been 10 years for:

1) Nanaimo Parkway (highway 19 bypass)

2) Confederation Bridge.

Both were opened at the end of May 1997.

[Neil]

I don't have any fondness at all for the Duke Point terminal. It hasn't saved us any time going up island since it takes so much time driving down and around, and for years it had nothing but vending machines for food. It's a huge expanse of asphalt that needs a covered walkway up the middle for people stuck way at the back on rainy days. It was built more for the convenience of BC Ferries than for it's customers.

[Low Light Mike]

hornbyguy said:

It was built more for the convenience of BC Ferries than for it's customers.

It was built on the premise that all mid-island truck traffic would be routed to Duke Point, because the FastCats would take only underheight-traffic.

It was built as part of a strategy to get truck traffic out of Nanaimo, in order to reduce in-town ferry-traffic hassles.

So it was built mainly for commercial vehicles, and to help the City of Nanaimo with it's traffic strategies. I don't think it was for the benefit of BC Ferries, unless it was built mainly to make the Fast-Cat strategy work.


Re the terminal itself, I like it. I enjoy looking at Northumberland Strait. I haven't been there for a 2 hour wait on a Sunday afternoon (tired & hungry), though.

[ferrytraveller]

i love the terminal, i have taken it every year since it opened when going to my cabin on the island. I will tell you that terminal sure beats being suck on the road leading in to the departure Bay terminal, although i agree it sucked that there was only vending machines for so many years, its slowly getting better

[Kam]

Not so sure about that..

Do you remember the days of route 30 running from DB?

Almost year round lineups down Stewart ave from the truck traffic..

[Alberni]

The terminal itself is not bad but i wish the location was north of Nanaimo. It's quite a drive for people coming from north of the island and it would have been nice not having to drive on the parkway and getting all those lights.

I wish I was able to attend the open houses when they were debating site locations but wasn't Nanoose Bay considered as a location?

[Dane]

islandguy said:

I wish I was able to attend the open houses when they were debating site locations but wasn't Nanoose Bay considered as a location?

There is no way they'd be able to get into Nanoose Bay, whilst I'm sure it was discussed it couldn't have gone that far before common sense prevailed.

Rte 30 itself is interesting as it canot take the most direct route many days because a large patch of the waters, in the same respect as Nanoose Bay, are restricted to military use.

[Hardy]

I frequently use Duke in the course of my work. I don't mind the extra drive outside Nanaimo, as it is mostly highway/expressway. Yes, there are too many lights, but you can get around the outskirts of the city fairly well.

Duke IS remote. It is also underserviced. They knew this going in. The remoteness was required to get the traffic away from downtown Nanaimo and onto some proper infrastructure routing. I think they got it done right as far as that goes. The lights are inconvenient, but you sorta need them. Upgrading the vending machines is a step in the right direction. The design of the terminal itself and it's buildings leaves lots of room for expansion, and to my way of thinking, was well planned for current and future use. As the services come on-line and some transportation links are firmed up, I think that this terminal will blossom.

From a standpoint of convenience related to a trip, the early and late sailing times appeal to me. The positioning to the Inland Highway is also convenient and makes travel time to the North Island very good. Even access down to Duncan and area is better than out of Victoria. If you want to talk about remoteness, look at Saanich compared to Victoria. Sure it is not out in the boonies as Saanich has grown up around it and you are not in the middle of a large-scale industrial park/complex like you are at Duke.

Has Duke been aimed mainly at truckers? Probably yes. This was the way that it has been marketted by BCF. BCF has consistently tried to push trucks over to Duke and perhaps they have succeeded too well. I suppose they skimped out on terminal amenties due partially to this fact - truckers usually bring what they need with them and don't always need full service amenities. That being said, I wouldn't mind an upgrade. While I can rough it, I do like having options of not living bare-bones! I know that I avoid HB-DB unless I have to take that route. Part of this is the logistics coming out of Departure and the traffic concerns there-in. In a car it is not so bad, but in a truck in heavy traffic, I'd rather log the extra miles out of Duke. However, if I am a lot nearer to Horseshoe, I am not driving 1.5 hours thru traffic to get to Tsawwassen.

Now that the traffic allocation has been achieved that they wanted, and the trucking industry is centred around Rte 30, build up the amenities at Duke. They've started, and that is good. I postulate that with the upcoming/impending expansion of Duke will bring the amenities about at a reasonable pace. Will we see the 2nd berth there before we have a full service terminal? I dunno.

My musings ....

[queenofcowichan]

Since the Coastal Inspiriation is scheduald to be based out of Duke Point are there any Renovations needed to the berth to allow for the side loading of her Cafeteria etc. I do not recall if the berth is accessable for side loading. I know when they built the terminal it was built to handle the Spirit ships.

[Hardy]

queenofcowichan said:

are there any Renovations needed to the berth to allow for the side loading of her Cafeteria etc.

Heck of a question. I would think that physically the berths are big enough to take a Coastal. As for the stores loading arrangement, I am not so sure about that. If the placement of the CI is purely for a "extended test run" as has been suggested in other threads, then I cannot see BCFS spending a lot of money on berth modifications JUST for stores loading - I would guess that they will just lad them aboard on the MCD as is done with many of the C-class. Also remember that Rte-30 is not as heavy with pax as Rte-2/-1, so they may be able to get away with once-daily provisioning.

[Scott (Former Account)]

Duke Point can handle a Coastal.

For her time spent at Duke, she will take on stores the same way as the C-class ships...

[DENelson83]

That's right, they'll just drive the stores on with the rest of the vehicles.

[waynem]

Just came through the new Departure bay terminal WOW ! Without a doubt Nanaimo now has the two nicest terminals in the whole system.

[Neil]

Oct 11, 2008 9:14:09 GMT -8 @waynem said:

Just came through the new Departure bay terminal WOW ! Without a doubt Nanaimo now has the two nicest terminals in the whole system.

What's the second nice terminal? Surely you're not refering to Duke Point, where people waiting a minimum of two and a half hours between sailings have to make do with one ridiculous, over priced little snack kiosk, and facilities that are a half mile walk from cars at the back of the line?

[Hardy]

They have started to make some minor (non-capital) improvements at Duke. In the last few times that I have been through there, it seems that there are small things that have been made better.

That is not to say that there is a LOT of room for improvement, but at least there have been some steps in the right direction.

What I have found about Duke: not nearly enough electrical plug-ins available for lap-top users to recharge; limited ARRIVAL seating (if you are waiting for someone to pick you up); one small coffee/muffin shop in the departure kiosk area (as well as all the ubiquituous vending machines).

It is not quite as austere as it used to be, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Things that I would like to see improved at Duke: wireless internet access available reliably; (slightly) improved food services - a hot offering would be nice; improved pax features (maybe a TV or two, even complete with BCFS advertising strip superimposed on the bottom edge)

[gordon]

Duke Point opened just over 10 years ago so maybe in their next capital expenditure cycle they will bring this terminal up to the caliber of the other major terminals.

I think it would be really nice if the terminals & the ferries on the major routes were wifi hotspots.

[Ian]

When Duke Point Terminal was being designed, was it intended to be the same format as Langdale, two berths opposite each other. If you look at google earth it looks like there is a set up for a future 2nd berth.

[Low Light Mike]

Mar 25, 2009 20:58:02 GMT -8 Ian said:

When Duke Point Terminal was being designed, was it intended to be the same format as Langdale, two berths opposite each other. If you look at google earth it looks like there is a set up for a future 2nd berth.

Moreso than "almost," it actually is. The structure was designed with a 2nd-berth in mind, for possible future expansion.

Forum member "no longer" refers to it as the "hammerhead".