Hi,

so the only option to go from Dubai to Iran seems to be the ferry from Sharjah to Bandar Abbas. The local dealer is the Oasis Feright Agency located in Sharjah, right?
My question: is it possible to get the tickets right on the spot (i.e. in the office there) or does one have to try to reserve before? (difficult, as e-mails are not answered and homepage doesn't work)

Robert

By the way, any of the locals there interested to meet and have a drink (tea, I suppose)? I'm travelling end of April.

Robert

3 years ago we were about to do the same ferry crossing and had to buy the ferry tickets for us and the bike a few days in advance.

See below info about them:

Motorbike, Car, Vehicles and cargo transport in persian gulf;.

the Motor Bike , vehicle and cargo transportation is subject to issuance transfer documentations at the port of departure. Usually you need to show up one day before the departure date at the port to get the needed paperwork done.

the average transfer fare for the Motorbike and car is 100 and 250$ respectively.

supposedly you can carry 50 kilograms luggage fee of charge but extra weights will be charged as 2 Dirhmas per extra kilo. Before traveling to iran , you need to get Carne de passage for your car. this can be done in the country where your car is originally registered.

if you are traveling to iran from Dubai, Sharjeh, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, or Dammam , please contact the local agents in those countries (mentioned in the follow) to take care of the transport related issues. but if you are in iran and wanted to travel abroad , we will take care of related paperwork.


Oasis Freight Agency
Kayed Ahli Bulding Jamal Abdul Nasser Road (Parallel to Al Wahda Street))
P.O.Box : 4840 Sharjeh U.A.E

A friend left just last week from Dubai to Bandar Lengeh. He lived in Abu Dhabi so I went to the Sharjah office for him the day before he wanted to pick up his tickets. They already had faxes of all of his documents and everything was ready for him in advance.

He managed this by contacting someone at the shipping company who very kindly oversaw his booking. I'll try to find out the shipping contact's name for you.

Might see you in April, I live very close to the ticket office.
Stephan

I am searching the same info: here is what i found today.
Sharjah - Bandar Abas: Sailing April 19, 23, 28
Sharjah - Bander Lengeh: Sailing April 15, 20, 24, 29

Price for moto: 890 Dirhams ($242)
Price for me one way First class/second class: 310/280 Dirhams ($85/$76)

I have been told the main man in the Sharjah Oasis office is Mr. Naza phone 06 559 6320

Beddhists GPS coords for Shajah office is:
N 25 19.022
E 55 22.044

I will be going there tomorrow to confirm all of this. I have been told that the Iranian port of Bander Lengeh is a smaller, better port to deal with. The ferry is RORO.

Stay tuned...

Stephano...still have you on radar to meet!

Rene

__________________
Go slow, be well.

I can confirm all of the above except for the GPS coords. The above ones stick you out in the lagoon.Correct point is:
N 25 19.021
E 55 22.957

Price is the same for either Bandar Abas or Bandar Lengeh.
Buy your tickets at the above office 2 or 3 days before sailing. Bring your payment, also Carnet, registration for bike, copy of passport, and copy of Iran visa. On the day of sailing arrive at the port before 6:30am to load and do immigration.
Boat leaves 9:30am.
Arrive Iran around 4pm.

The overnight RORO is no longer working from what I can tell. Loading is done by crane.

__________________
Go slow, be well.

Rene, thanks for this precise update!

Latest update:
"Getting out of Dubai customs was the most painful thing I have ever gone through. Although I thought I'd done everything necessary I had to run around all over the place on the morning of the 6th [April 2008]."

"Bandar Lengeh Customs told me I had to got to Bandar Abbas to get a transit number plate from the Traffic Police so I ignored them and rode to Shiraz. I went through numerous police road blocks and tolls with no bother."

Still if he thought Dubai port was painful, he hasn't reached a Turkish border yet...
Stephan

Stephan, I am hoping you have some insight to the following:
I have also been hearing of monster stories of travelers trying to leave UAE by ferry to Iran without the carnet being stamped into UAE.
What do you know about this?
I, like many others, entered UAE at the Hatta crossing where there is no customs, and as a result was able to stamp out of Oman, but there is no 'entry' stamp into UAE.
One suggestion is to make a visa run to Oman, and come back Al Ain, making sure that the carnet gets stamped by somebody.

What do you think of that?

__________________
Go slow, be well.

I wouldn't bother. Either go out with no stamps at all in the carnet or more likely, when they ask for the it, get them to do the 'in' & the 'out' in one go (having explained why the 'in' is not there).
Stephan

I crossed about a month ago and found no problem at all.
The ferry to Lengeh was a catamaran but you load by its side. A couple of planks and a crate sorted the height differences. At Lengeh unloaded without problems.
My carnet was stamped with entries to the UAE twice! When I ponted out the mistake to the officials there they dismissed as unimportant. At Lengeh they spoted it but made none of it. Even more, the official gave me a letter addres to a friend of his at the Turkish border customs.

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Smile

Im going from sharjah to bandar abbas, and I got a lot of information in this forum, is great!, thank you for that.
I have ona more question, we are 2 people traveling without bike; and we want to know if we need to pay tax on the sharjah port, and on the port in Iran.

today we went to the office and they said the price is 280 dirham, to fly is almost the same, I prefer the ship, but if we need to pay tax...the fly is cheaper...

thank you very much!