Tougher security measures will start to take effect at BC Ferries terminals next year — including random screening of passengers and vehicles, says a senior company official.

As a result, passengers may have to arrive 40 minutes to an hour before sailing, depending on the level of security in place, said Manuel Achadinha, the corporation's vice-president of terminal operations.

Achadinha said the tightened security measures were the result of new federal security regulations.

The federal government has three levels of security — and at the lowest level, there would be normal ferry-boarding operations with no need for passengers to get there early, he said.

"When they increase the security levels, it'll be like the airport. There'll be notices and you'll be asked to come a lot earlier, and it could be as much as an hour. Just so people understand, there will be screening requirements as part of this process."

He told a transportation forum on Vancouver Island Tuesday that the screening would begin at the terminal in Nanaimo next spring, and then be expanded to other major terminals by 2009.

"Departure Bay is going to be the first terminal when we finish this next year. It will have all of the latest security elements in it: the new cameras, the fencing," he said.

"The foot passengers, the way they come in, it will be more like an airport style, where it's a counter and they'll go through a screening area."

He promised that BC Ferries would try to make it as seamless as possible in order to minimize the impact on passengers.