Duke Point is a geographical location in the extreme southeastern part of the city of Nanaimo in British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. It is located on a thin peninsula to the east of the Nanaimo River estuary, just across the Northumberland Channel from Gabriola Island

Gabriola Island

Gabriola Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia, in British Columbia , Canada. Gabriola lies about east of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, to which it is linked by ferry...

. Located at Duke Point is a major industrial park, which includes sawmills and a pulp mill. BC Ferries

BC Ferries

British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. or BC Ferries is a de facto Crown Corporation that provides all major passenger and vehicle ferry services for coastal and island communities in the Canadian province of British Columbia...

 operates a major terminal at Duke Point, which provides access to ferry service across the Strait of Georgia

Strait of Georgia

The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is approximately long and varies in width from...

 to Tsawwassen

Tsawwassen, British Columbia

Tsawwassen is a suburban, mostly residential community located on a peninsula in the southwestern corner of the Corporation of Delta, British Columbia, Canada. Tsawwassen provides the only road access to the community of Point Roberts, Washington via 56th Street...

. The terminal was built in 1997 to divert commercial vehicle traffic away from BC Ferries' other main Nanaimo dock, located at a point in the middle of the city known as Departure Bay

Departure Bay, British Columbia

Departure Bay is a bay in central Nanaimo, British Columbia, on the east coast of Vancouver Island. The surrounding neighbourhood is also referred to as "Departure Bay"—once a settlement of its own, it was amalgamated into the City of Nanaimo in the 1970s .- Geography :The bay is framed to the...

, thus easing traffic jams through Nanaimo's city centre. The ferry terminal marks the southern terminus of Highway 19, which connects the terminal to the Trans-Canada Highway just south of Nanaimo's city centre.

Duke Point is the only major terminal in the BC Ferries system without direct transit bus service.