Vancouver Island

Mainland reach. Island expertise.

How commercial freight reaches Vancouver Island by barge and road, and how Kattz Logistics coordinates it from Nanaimo.

Moving freight onto Vancouver Island adds a layer of coordination that Mainland carriers rarely explain: a barge sailing, a terminal with a dwell clock, and a tractor that has to be waiting on the other side. We already work inside that reality. This page explains it the way we would explain it on the phone.

Data as of 2026-10-18. Sources at the end of the page.

A white day-cab tractor with an orange shipping container on a sand track among tall firs, under a blue sky streaked with cirrus — 08 Jul 2026 · 14:31A container reaches a forest lot.

How does freight get to Vancouver Island?

Drop trailers lined up on the open deck of a commercial barge, seen from a rocky shore with a forested bluff behind — Drop trailers on the deck of the commercial barge.

By commercial barge and road. Kattz sends drop trailers and containers across the Strait of Georgia on freight-only commercial barges, from Tilbury or Surrey on the Mainland to Duke Point or Swartz Bay on the Island. The trailer crosses on its own; a Kattz tractor meets it on the Island side.

There is no freight rail service on Vancouver Island, so freight that travels by rail comes off the railway at a Mainland ramp and finishes the trip by barge and road. The Nanaimo region is the focal point of most Island freight, because Duke Point is the terminal that connects the Mid-Island to the Mainland and increasingly handles Victoria-bound traffic as well. Kattz is based in Nanaimo for exactly that reason.

Source: Barge terminals: Seaspan Ferries terminals page. Duke Point's role: BC Ministry of Transportation / HDR, Island Rail Corridor Freight Analysis, December 2022.

The move, in order

01Port or rail rampPickup at one of the five Vancouver-area port facilities or a Mainland rail ramp, inside its reservation window.
02Commercial bargeThe trailer or container crosses on the commercial barge from Tilbury or Surrey. The tractor and driver stay on the Mainland.
03Island-side tractorA Kattz tractor meets it at the Duke Point or Swartz Bay barge terminal.
04ReceiverDelivered to the receiving appointment; the equipment goes back on a return sailing.

A smarter movement can mean less unnecessary equipment travel, fewer handoffs for you to manage and better control over the total transportation cost.

The barge lanes

The commercial barge lanes between the Mainland and the Island, and the sailings each ran on a typical day in the Province's count.

Lane	Service	Sailings	Note
Tilbury (Delta) → Duke Point (Nanaimo)	Commercial barge	3–5 per day	The main Mid-Island lane; serves South, Mid and North Island
Surrey (Fraser) → Duke Point (Nanaimo)	Commercial barge	1–3 per day	Near the Fraser River terminals
Tilbury (Delta) → Swartz Bay (North Saanich)	Commercial barge	1–3 per day	South Island; land-constrained terminal

Kattz moves drop trailers and containers on the commercial barge. Kattz does not use BC Ferries' drop-trailer service.

Source: Sailings per day: BC MoTI / HDR Island Rail Corridor Freight Analysis, December 2022, Table 3. Terminal locations: Seaspan Ferries terminals page.

Barge transportation

Barge transportation. Coordinated around your freight.

Moving trailers and containers between the Mainland and Vancouver Island takes dependable coordination. Tell us what you're moving and where it needs to go, and we'll work out the right transportation arrangements and give you a rate for your actual shipment.

Get a Rate (250) 729-9111

The request opens with Island freight. Every crossing is quoted on your shipment's own details.

What a rate depends on

The equipment: trailer or container, and its length.
The freight: what it is and what it weighs.
Where it starts and where it needs to go.
Terminal handling and the sailing it has to make.
The pickup and delivery arrangements, and the timing.
Anything particular about how the receiver takes it.

Kattz holds an active commercial barge account, books around the terminal's dwell clock and plans the crossing as part of the whole move, not as a separate line item.

Containers to the Island

Island-bound containers are picked up at one of the five Vancouver-area port facilities and cross the Strait on the commercial barge to Duke Point or Swartz Bay, where a Kattz tractor collects them for delivery. DP World's container terminal at Duke Point is not operating at present, and no reopening date has been announced.

What this means for Island receivers: the container's Island journey starts on the Mainland, so the port pickup, the sailing, the Island-side tractor and the receiving appointment have to be planned as one move. If the receiver can't take a sea container at all, it can be transloaded first. That is the part Kattz does from Nanaimo.

Port and container drayage Transloading

Areas we serve

Where we deliver

Kattz is based in Nanaimo and delivers across the Island. Delivery days vary by area and by the sailing the trailer arrives on, so tell us where the receiver is and we will tell you when.

Kattz, Nanaimo
Barge and port terminals
Communities
Main highways
Barge lanes

Zone lines are approximate: they group the places we deliver to, not municipal boundaries. Coastline: Natural Earth.

01South IslandVictoria · Saanich · Langford · Sidney · Sooke · Duncan · Lake CowichanVia Swartz Bay or Duke Point · 5–75 km from the nearer terminal
02Mid-IslandNanaimo · Ladysmith · Parksville · Qualicum Beach · Port AlberniVia Duke Point · 15–100 km from the nearer terminal
03North IslandCourtenay · Comox · Campbell River · Port McNeill · Port HardyVia Duke Point · 120–400 km from the nearer terminal
04West CoastTofino · Ucluelet · BamfieldVia Duke Point · 185–220 km from the nearer terminal
Don't see your town?
Tell us where the receiver is. If it is on the Island, we will tell you how the freight gets there.
Get a Rate

Questions worth asking your logistics provider

Whoever you work with, these are the questions that decide what an Island shipment really costs and whether it arrives on the day you promised.

01Are you paying for a tractor and driver that don't need to make the entire trip?
02Who coordinates the handoff once the freight reaches the Island?
03What happens when the receiver can't take the freight as it arrived?
04Who owns the problem when the original plan stops working?
05Are you talking to someone who can actually change the plan?

Island freight, in plain language

Commercial barge: A freight-only vessel that carries trailers and containers across the Strait without their tractors. A tractor drops the trailer at the Mainland terminal; another picks it up on the Island. Also called a drop-trailer ferry.
Drop trailer: A trailer left at a terminal or a yard without its tractor, for another tractor to collect.
Power-only / tractor service: A carrier supplies the tractor and driver to move a trailer that belongs to someone else.
Drayage: The short truck move between a port or rail ramp and the next leg: a warehouse, a transload or a barge terminal.
Rail ramp: An intermodal terminal where containers and trailers come off or go onto the railway. There is no freight rail on Vancouver Island; the closest ramps Kattz works with are in Surrey and Pitt Meadows.
LCL (less than container load): A shipment too small to fill a container, shipped in one with other people's freight and released on its own at a destuff facility after it arrives.
Destuffing: Unloading freight from a shipping container, often at a deconsolidation facility, so each shipment can go its own way.
Dwell: Time a trailer sits at the terminal before or after a sailing. A few hours are free; after that it is charged by the day.
No-show: A trailer booked on a sailing that does not arrive. It carries a fee and loses the slot.
Reservation window: The time slot a container terminal assigns to a truck. Arrive outside it and the truck is turned away.
Transload: Moving freight from one piece of equipment to another so it can be delivered where the first one cannot go.
Pin-to-pin: A trailer or chassis move from one hook-up to the next, with no loading or unloading by the carrier.
Direct discharge: Cargo lifted straight from the ship onto the truck, with no staging on the ground in between.
Consignee: The receiver: the business the freight is addressed to.

Island freight, without the trip across

Your freight crosses. Your driver doesn't have to.

Sending your own tractor and driver to Vancouver Island means a day of crossing, terminal waits and a trip back, while that truck could be earning somewhere else. Drop the trailer at the Mainland barge terminal instead. Kattz books it on the commercial barge, and our Island-side tractors and drivers collect it from the terminal yard at Duke Point or Swartz Bay and deliver it.

A standard approach

Your tractor and driver cross to the Island and back
Driver hours spent waiting and crossing
Your truck is off your other work for the day

The Kattz approach

The trailer crosses on the commercial barge
Our tractors collect it from the Island terminal yard
Your truck and driver stay working on the Mainland

Get a Rate

FAQ

Island freight, answered

Where does Kattz pick up trailers at Swartz Bay and Duke Point?

From the barge terminal's designated yard once the trailer is available, not from the vessel. Kattz does not operate the barge or the terminal; our tractors collect the trailer from the yard and take it to the receiver.

Does Kattz serve Vancouver Island?

Yes. Kattz Logistics is based in Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, and coordinates commercial freight between the Island, the Lower Mainland and the broader transportation network, with its own tractors and drivers on the Island side.

Can a container go to Vancouver Island without my own trucking?

Yes. Kattz picks the container up at one of the five Vancouver-area port facilities, takes it to the Mainland barge terminal, books the crossing on the commercial barge, meets it at Duke Point or Swartz Bay with a Kattz tractor, and delivers it to the receiver.

Do you use BC Ferries' drop-trailer service?

No. Kattz moves drop trailers and containers between the Mainland and Vancouver Island on the commercial barge, from Tilbury or Surrey to Duke Point or Swartz Bay, and meets them with our own tractors on the Island side.

Is there freight rail to Vancouver Island?

No. There is no freight rail service on Vancouver Island. Freight that travels by rail comes off the railway at a Mainland ramp, such as Surrey or Pitt Meadows, and Kattz takes it the rest of the way by barge and road.

Is the container terminal at Duke Point open?

No. DP World's container terminal at Duke Point is not operating at present, and no reopening date has been announced. Island-bound containers come through the Vancouver-area port facilities and cross on the commercial barge. The barge terminal at Duke Point is a separate terminal, and it is where Kattz collects Island-bound trailers and containers.

Why not send my own truck across?

You can, and sometimes it is the right answer. But an accompanied truck pays for the tractor, the driver's hours and the return trip, and the driver spends the day crossing. On the commercial barge the trailer crosses alone and a Kattz tractor meets it, so your truck and driver stay working on the Mainland. Tell us the shipment and we will tell you which makes sense.

What do you need to give me a rate for an Island delivery?

What you are moving, where it is now, where on the Island it needs to go, when it needs to be there, and anything unusual about the receiver. If you do not have all of it, send what you have.