Whatever it is that drives Chris Morgan — eternal optimism, blind faith, unwavering tenacity, a tendency to dream big — the founder and CEO of Hoverlink Ontario aims to “get people’s lives back” for them by making the trip between Niagara and Toronto a heck of a lot faster than it is now.
The Niagara-on-the-Lake resident was the guest of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce’s Business Leadership Series at Four Points by Sheraton St. Catharines Niagara Suites last Friday.
Chamber members and politicians packed the room to hear the latest about Morgan’s quest to start a hovercraft service that promises to move commuters and tourists between St. Catharines and Toronto in 30 minutes
“Some days it’s three hours there and three hours back,” Morgan told the crowd about current traffic conditions. “The mayor of St. Catharines (Mat Sisco) told me when he goes to a Blue Jays game he has to leave at 2 p.m. and he’s lucky to get home by 2 a.m.”
Morgan has been working with Griffon Hoverwork Design Group to create a prototype. Griffon has built hovercrafts in over 41 countries for organizations such as the US Military, Royal Marines, and the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards.
Promising to make travel fun again because “angry tourists don’t spend money,” Morgan spoke at length about how a hovercraft is able to travel across Lake Ontario so quickly.
The vessels are unique because they travel just above the surface of the water, supported by a cushion of air. An engine powers a fan which blows air underneath the craft. The air is trapped by a rubber skirt that inflates and lifts the craft to its full hovering height. The air then can be used to push the hovercraft forward at a high speed over any surface.
As Morgan explained, that means that Hoverlink can operate its planned 180-passenger craft 12 months and 365 days a year, even over ice and snow.
“There’s no wake, there’s no wash, there are no mechanical parts in the water,” Morgan said. He added that it will not disturb marine life or migratory birds and will run on biodiesel, making environmentally sensitive.
“One day of running this craft will take more than 8,000 cars off the road,” predicted the graduate of McMaster University’s earth sciences department. “This project is what I call P-2 - planet and people. We are destroying our ability to live on this planet and we need to find a better way.”
That environmental focus sits well with Niagara-on-the-Lake Coun. Sandra O’Connor, who attended the event.
“I am quite interested in the environmental component,” O’Connor, known for her concern for such interests, told The Local. “It will hopefully get cars off the QEW. We’ll have less cars and less pressure to expand the highways into the mid-corridor. I look on it as a win-win.”
Hoverlink has had numerous meetings with local municipalities about the feasibility of the planned service and has signed a lease with the St. Lawrence Seaway to build a dock and facility in the Port Weller area.
Morgan promised that there would be shuttle buses running from the Niagara dock to St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and NOTL once the service is up and running.
“That’s exciting,” O’Connor said. “The municipalities will have some input as to the routes of those buses, too. I see us as an integral partner with Hoverlink from that perspective. It certainly will bring more tourists to Niagara-on-the-Lake.”
Hoverlink is an idea that Morgan, who has worked in marketing with the likes of Procter and Gamble, Walmart International, Disney, Nestle, Coors, Pirelli, Bridgestone, and Formula 1, has had since 2011. He first announced the corporation’s Niagara plans in September, 2022, with hopes that the service would be up and running the following summer.
But with a project such as this, at a scale that has never been attempted before, there were bound to be hold-ups. Morgan talked of environmental studies and impact assessments. He has had countless meetings with all levels of government and several different ministries, insisting to the gathering that they all support the concept.
Though he says his plans in Port Weller are “shovel-read” ground won’t be broken there until he nails down a spot on the other side of Lake Ontario. Hoverlink met with officials from PortsToronto earlier this month to discuss just that. Morgan hinted they are close to a deal on that end but said he was not able to provide details.
O’Connor is not surprised with the time it is taking for the hovercraft service to get off the ground.
“We are all eager to have this type of facility,” she said. “It’s the Toronto side where it is taking longer to find the right place to leave from. There is a lot going on at the harbour there so there are a lot of challenges on that side of things.”
Throughout the 90-minute session the eager CEO discussed many details, including plans to have two of the new crafts ready to go and an abundance of spare parts to keep them on the lake. He talked about partnerships with GO Transit and the Niagara District Airport and even floated the idea of an annual Winter in Niagara Festival to bring tourists to the area during the slower shoulder season.
He did pinpoint 2026 as the start of the service, but left it open as to which quarter the inaugural trip would be held. Morgan also could not provide concrete answers to how it was going to be financed, how often the hovercraft would make the journey each day and what it would cost for each ride.
“I guess they are still finalizing things and just can’t say yet,” said O’Connor. “There were specifics the GNCC had on their site about the number of crossings and the time of the trip. We’ll have to wait to see about the cost, of course. I’m living in hope that this works. It will be good for Niagara.”
Another attendee, Del Rollo, vice president of corporate affairs for Arterra Wines Canada, agrees with O’Connor.
“This is one of the most exciting things for me both professionally and personally,” Rollo said at the event during a Q & A session directed by GNCC president and CEO Mishka Balsom. “We need the whole region to get behind this, we have to work collaboratively so we don’t screw it up. This will create repeat visits to Niagara. Let’s figure a way to make it both five-star and as affordable as possible.”
