In September 2026 the board of the Nanaimo Port Authority had four names left on a list that started at 186. The applications for president and chief executive had come in from around the world since May, chair Donna Hais told the mayor's leaders' table, and some finalists had flown to Nanaimo to present their view of the port's prospects. The winner replaces Ian Marr, who has run the port since January 2019 and retires on December 31, 2026. Hais said an announcement would come by mid-October.

Whoever takes the job inherits a federal body with a long reach. In the News Bulletin's description, the authority controls and manages the harbour, waters and foreshore next to Nanaimo, and it trades under the name Port of Nanaimo. What it owns, who sits on its board and the fights it has had with the city's waterfront users are the substance of the Nanaimo port story.

A federal port with a local board

The Canada Marine Act, which received royal assent on June 11, 1998, created the current system of port authorities. Nanaimo is item 5 on the act's schedule of initial port authorities, and the act's coming-into-force notes put the provisions naming the Nanaimo Port Authority in force on July 1, 1999. Wikipedia dates the authority to 1998, the year of the act. The size of the club depends on the date of the source: a News Bulletin report in 2017 called Nanaimo one of 18 Canadian port authorities, while the schedule as it now reads lists 17 after several were repealed or merged.

Section 14 of the act sets out the board. The federal cabinet appoints one director nominated by the transport minister. The municipalities named in the port's letters patent appoint one, and the province one or two. The remaining directors are appointed by cabinet on the minister's nomination after consultation with port users. Terms run up to three years, renewable twice, with a cap of nine consecutive years. In practice the city advertises its seat: in September 2024 it invited residents to apply for a three-year term by October 9. In 2021 former city councillor Jeet Manhas and Maersk executive Shiva Dean filled the federal and International Trade User Group seats.

The port's officials describe it as self-funding. Bernie Dumas, chief executive from 2008 to 2017, told the News Bulletin in 2013 that it operates as a small business and does not receive subsidies; Mike Davidson repeated the point in 2018, saying the port is mandated to generate its own revenue. Grants still arrive project by project, as the cruise terminal shows.

The water it manages is wide. Wikipedia sets the port limits from Horsewell Bluffs at Stephenson Point, on the north side of Departure Bay, to Malaspina Point on Gabriola Island, and south through Northumberland Channel to Dodd Narrows and False Narrows. If you take a small boat north through Dodd Narrows, you are entering port waters at the narrows.

Duke Point and the Assembly Wharf

The port has two deep-sea terminals. The Nanaimo Assembly Wharf, downtown, has two berths of 200 metres each, according to Wikipedia, with depths of 12.4 and 11.7 metres. Duke Point, at the south-east corner of the harbour, is the one being rebuilt: the Bulletin put the current expansion with DP World at about $120 million in 2026, larger than the $105 million figure used in 2021, with the berth growing from 182 to 325 metres. DP World's project page gives September 2027 as the target for finishing the Duke Point terminal expansion.

The Assembly Wharf has been rethought more than once. In July 2013 Ottawa announced $4.65 million, matched by the port, to modernize the wharf for short-sea container barges to the Lower Mainland; the Bulletin reported the site had been mostly dormant for about 10 years and that part of it stood on wood pilings, some driven in the 1950s. By January 2015 the plan had moved. A geotechnical study found the seabed too soft. "The containers are heavy and if you pile them up it was just going to sink," Dumas said, and the container work went to Duke Point instead.

The wharf found other tenants. In April 2018 the port, Western Stevedoring and the automotive arm of SSA Marine announced a vehicle processing centre in the wharf's 60,000-square-foot warehouse, where cars shipped from Europe would be fitted for Canadian sale, starting at 10,000 to 12,000 vehicles a year. In May 2023 more than 750 VinFast VF 8 electric cars from Vietnam landed there. In July 2018, Western Canada Marine Response Corporation signed a 25-year lease for about 12,077 square metres to base 15 spill response vessels in Nanaimo. Late in 2025 the port's assistant harbour master, Capt. Meraz Sekhon, described Seaspan's LNG bunkering ships loading fuel at the Assembly Wharf from trucks before their first ship-to-ship refuelling runs. When Dumas retired he summed up the change: he had found a port "in a tough position as a forest distributions centre," and left a multi-modal one. The forest trade has not left the harbour: Harmac, the pulp mill south of Nanaimo that its employees helped buy in 2008, still employs about 350 people.

The cruise terminal and the missing ships

The port's most visible building opened in May 2011. The Bulletin reported the cruise ship terminal cost $24 million against an estimate of $22 million, paid for with $8.5 million from the federal Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, $5 million from the province, $3.5 million from the Island Coastal Economic Trust and $7 million from the port, which added its own offices above the welcome centre. The floating dock is 106 metres long and can berth 1,050-foot ships. The Norwegian Pearl was the first to tie up. Dumas said the terminal needed 25 to 30 large ships a year to turn a profit within about five years.

They did not come.

In 2016 a letter writer called the terminal "an economic disaster," and in 2017 Dumas named it his one regret: "my personal goal of having 20, 25 cruise ships and we've had six or seven." Calls stopped altogether after 2019. The return was modest. The Seabourn Odyssey, about 450 passengers, arrived on May 9, 2024, the first cruise ship since 2019. Four were scheduled for 2025, starting with Hapag-Lloyd's Europa 2 on April 21, and the season closed on October 10 with Holland America's Noordam, carrying 1,900 passengers on the line's first Nanaimo call. Its captain said the company planned three visits in 2026.

The Boat Basin fight, 2012 to 2014

The sharpest public argument was over the downtown marina. In May 2012 the port signed a memorandum of agreement with the Sidney-based Pacific Northwest Marina Group for a 30-year lease of the 4.45-hectare Boat Basin, a marina the Bulletin described as 72 years old. The company proposed $9 million in upgrades, swapping creosote pilings for steel and wood floats for concrete slips, and promised 40 per cent more moorage.

Dumas defended the deal on the numbers. The marina had lost about $230,000 in 2010 and $180,000 in 2011, he said, and the commercial fleet using it had fallen from 50 or 60 boats in the late 1990s to 17. The port's focus, he said, was cargo.

Opponents saw a public asset going private without a tender. Brunie Brunie organized a blockade on the water for September 1, 2012: "The waterfront belongs to everyone, you just can't gate it." Michelle Corfield spoke for a coalition of fishers, Protection Island residents and Snuneymuxw First Nation members, and the Snuneymuxw raised the lack of consultation over rights they hold under the Douglas Treaty. Protection Island's Larry Iwaskow said moorage already cost double Victoria's rates.

The company walked away. Its agreement expired on April 1, 2013, and Dumas said it had cited quicker returns elsewhere and the time a federal environmental review would take. In February 2014 the port pulled out the condemned D wharf and said it would fund a $9 million to $10 million rebuild itself. By November 2018 a redesign promised up to 50 per cent more moorage, and the port was asking Ottawa for $15 million it did not have. The chair of the board by then was Corfield.

One tangent from that period still circulates. The floating concrete that marinas reuse often has a history: when Washington State replaced the eastern half of the Hood Canal Bridge, a project Wikipedia dates to 2003 to 2009, Sidney-based Seagate Pontoons bought its 12 pontoons and sold sections to Horseshoe Bay, Port Alberni and buyers abroad, the Peninsula News Review reported in 2021. A Sidney letter writer added that one piece was once towed to Cowichan Bay. No source reviewed here links those pontoons to the Nanaimo Boat Basin plan.

Who argued with the port, 2017 to 2022

The governance question came to a head in 2017. In August, Snuneymuxw councillor Douglas White III said the nation wanted the authority replaced. "The port authority model, the legal structure, it comes from a different era where things like treaty rights, the federal government didn't care about," he said, adding that there was nothing "like revenue sharing with Snuneymuxw." Dumas answered that the port respected treaty rights but could not negotiate them. The city had already backed a marina association plan for a non-profit waterfront steward.

Leadership churned. Dumas retired at the end of September 2017; Ewan Moir replaced him in October and left in October 2018 after about a year, with Snuneymuxw leaders having objected to his handling of their concerns. Chair Moira Jenkins resigned in November 2017. Marr and Davidson, both at the port since the 1980s, ran it as co-CEOs until Marr was named permanent chief executive in January 2019.

Ferry tenants brought their own disputes. Port manager Bill Mills was negotiating with a Courtenay company over a foot ferry as early as 2000. Island Ferries signed an offer to lease at 100 Port Way in 2017, and after the port and the Snuneymuxw First Nation gave a long-term lease to Conqora in 2021, Island Ferry Services sued both in August 2022, alleging misuse of its confidential plans; the Bulletin noted none of the claims had been proven. Today Hullo's foot passenger ferries, run by the Vancouver Island Ferry Company, carry passengers from the waterfront to downtown Vancouver. Industrial land beside the port has drawn its own fights, among them a 2014 incinerator proposal at Duke Point that council voted down unanimously.

Where the port stands in autumn 2026

The authority has spent the last two years selling distance from Vancouver as an advantage. On August 11, 2025, Hais signed a sister port agreement with Taiwan's Port of Kaohsiung, describing Nanaimo as "one of the deepest natural sea ports in North America" and a place for ships to unload instead of waiting at anchor in English Bay.

The leadership question is open. As of the News Bulletin's September 16 report, the latest dated source found for this article, four candidates were left and the board expected to name Marr's successor by the middle of October. No announcement had appeared in the sources reviewed by October 20.

Questions

Who controls Nanaimo's harbour?

The Nanaimo Port Authority, which trades as the Port of Nanaimo. It is a federal port authority under the Canada Marine Act and, in the News Bulletin's words, controls and manages the harbour, waters and foreshore next to the city.

Is the Nanaimo Port Authority funded by taxpayers?

Its officials say no. Bernie Dumas told the News Bulletin in 2013 that the authority runs as a small business without government subsidies, and Mike Davidson said in 2018 that it is required to generate its own revenue. Federal and provincial grants have still paid for parts of individual projects, such as the cruise terminal and the Assembly Wharf upgrade.

Who appoints the Nanaimo Port Authority board?

The Canada Marine Act splits the appointments. One director is nominated by the federal transport minister, one is appointed by the municipalities named in the letters patent, one or two by the province, and the rest by the federal cabinet after consultation with port users.

How long can a port authority director serve?

Terms run up to three years and can be renewed twice, with a limit of nine consecutive years on the board. A former director must wait 12 months before being appointed again.

Who is the CEO of the Nanaimo Port Authority?

Ian Marr has been president and CEO since January 2019 and is retiring on December 31, 2026. In September 2026 the board said it had cut 186 applicants for the job to four, with a decision expected by mid-October.

Where do cruise ships dock in Nanaimo?

At the port's cruise ship terminal on the downtown waterfront, a 106-metre floating dock with a welcome centre that opened in May 2011. The authority's own offices sit on the second floor of the terminal building.

How many cruise ships visit Nanaimo?

Far fewer than planned. The port hoped for 25 to 30 large ships a year when the terminal opened, but Dumas said in 2017 that it had seen six or seven. Two ships were scheduled for 2024 and four for 2025, and Holland America said it planned three calls in 2026.

What happens at the Nanaimo Assembly Wharf?

It hosts a vehicle processing centre, announced in 2018, that prepares imported cars for Canadian sale, and a spill response base leased in the same year. In 2025 the port also described LNG being trucked to the wharf and loaded onto Seaspan's bunkering vessels.

Why did the Boat Basin lease fall through?

The Pacific Northwest Marina Group let its memorandum of agreement expire on April 1, 2013. Dumas said the company cited other investments with quicker returns and the time a federal environmental review would take, after months of opposition from fishers, Protection Island residents and the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Does the Snuneymuxw First Nation have a role at the port?

It has pressed for one. In 2017 Snuneymuxw councillor Douglas White III called for the port authority model to be replaced and said the nation lacked any revenue sharing. In 2021 the nation joined the port in announcing a long-term ferry lease with Conqora.

What is the sister port agreement with Kaohsiung?

An agreement in principle signed on August 11, 2025, between the Port of Nanaimo and Taiwan's Port of Kaohsiung. Board chair Donna Hais said it covers economic and stewardship cooperation, with Nanaimo pitched as a place to offload ships that would otherwise wait at anchor off Vancouver.

Sources

  1. Nanaimo Port Authority shortlists applicants for president, CEO position, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Robert Barron), 2026-09-16
  2. Canada Marine Act (S.C. 1998, c. 10), Justice Laws Website, Government of Canada
  3. Nanaimo Harbour, Wikipedia
  4. Port of Nanaimo announces new appointees to board, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2021-02-20
  5. Notice: appointment to the Nanaimo Port Authority board of directors, Nanaimo News Bulletin / City of Nanaimo, 2024-09-25
  6. Money earmarked for Nanaimo's assembly wharf, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Bush), 2013-07-03
  7. Shipping wharf project moved to Duke Point, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Bush), 2015-01-15
  8. New European import vehicle processing facility planned for Nanaimo assembly wharf, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Bush), 2018-04-12
  9. Company planning to build oil response base announces 25-year lease with Port of Nanaimo, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Nicholas Pescod), 2018-07-31
  10. Vietnamese-made electric cars arrive at Port of Nanaimo for sale in Canada, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2023-06-03
  11. Shipping shift to LNG means more business for Port of Nanaimo, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Bush), 2025-12-29
  12. Cruise ship terminal nearly operational, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Rachel Stern), 2011-04-01
  13. New cruise terminal earns rave reviews from first visitors, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Rachel Stern), 2011-05-09
  14. Cruise terminal's costs can't be justified (letter), Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2016-07-14
  15. First cruise ship since 2019 ties up at Nanaimo terminal, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Bush), 2024-05-09
  16. First cruise ship of the season visits Nanaimo, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Bush), 2025-04-21
  17. Holland America cruise ship makes its first visit to Nanaimo, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Greg Sakaki), 2025-10-11
  18. Critics float marina worries, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Roy Ostling), 2012-08-07
  19. Protesters plan blockade of boat basin, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Hamlyn), 2012-08-23
  20. Battle for the boat basin, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Niomi Pearson), 2013-01-26
  21. Marina group backs out of boat basin agreement, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Hamlyn), 2013-04-15
  22. Environment review, economy cited for marina deal failure, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Hamlyn), 2013-04-18
  23. Nanaimo's boat basin redevelopment starts with dock removal, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Tamara Cunningham), 2014-02-26
  24. Port of Nanaimo presents plans for marina redesign, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2018-11-28
  25. Hood Canal Bridge, Wikipedia
  26. Used concrete pontoon from the United States could replace Sidney's Beacon Wharf, Peninsula News Review (Wolf Depner), 2021-01-13
  27. Letter: Hood Canal castoff not wanted in Sidney, Peninsula News Review, 2021-02-15
  28. Port authority president and CEO retires, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Chris Bush), 2017-06-14
  29. Snuneymuxw will lead public dialogue in push to replace port authority, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Greg Sakaki), 2017-08-01
  30. Nanaimo Port Authority board chairwoman resigns, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2017-11-22
  31. Port of Nanaimo CEO gone, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Nicholas Pescod), 2018-10-26
  32. Port of Nanaimo picks its new CEO, Nanaimo News Bulletin, 2019-01-15
  33. Island Ferries signs lease agreement with Nanaimo Port Authority, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Nicholas Pescod), 2017-08-23
  34. Former fast ferry proponent sues Port of Nanaimo and current fast ferry partner, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Karl Yu), 2022-08-25
  35. Headline History: Nanaimo Port Authority works on passenger-only ferry in 2000, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Karl Yu), 2026-07-10
  36. Sister port agreement signed between Nanaimo and Taiwan city, Nanaimo News Bulletin (Jessica Durling), 2025-08-13