Hi! Everyone,
I read from reports that the Dongchun ferry Line between Sokcho, S. Korea to Zarubino, Russia has stop operating since 2010. Thus leaving the DBS ferry Lines only option to sea crossing from S.Korea to Russia via Dong Hae to Vladivostok. However, when I tried to book online ticket (single journey) traveling for next month the DBS Lines provides service for passengers only.
Does anyone out there know when will DBS service provides passenger and bike/vehicle? Or can anyone point me towards somebody or contact to air freight my bike from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Vladivostok, Russia?

Thank you for the help.

Amzah

As I have responded to your EM already,,,
All your answers are at Riding Pointers in Korea thread ,, above this.
Get hold of Wendy.

I just crossed on DBS ferry with my bike (4 May) from Donghae to Vlad, so don't know what you mean
Definitely contact Wendy. She is the worlds best and most fantastic agent and person who will solve all your problems... Well shipping wise that is!
Good luck

Why did you take DBS to Vladivostok and spend three days waiting for the bike clearance? (Yuris fees, hotels,, food ,, transportation costs)
Zarubino by Stana-Daena was repeatly recommended for 2-3 hour customs clearance. ( No Yuri and customs clearance fees,,, on the road in 3 hours)
So far non have faced voodoo Korean customs interpretations by using Wendy.

Just talked to DBS FERRY in Korea - their Ferry Service is OUT OF BUSINESS (and not just for the winter) due to "lack of money".

Almost all of their staff have been layed off.

I asked about the chances of service revival and the recommendation was to make alternative arrangements.



ANYBODY INTERESTED IN GETTING A SEA FREIGHT CONTAINER TOGETHER BY BIKES ABROAD IN MELBOURNE - ARRIVAL EARLY MAY VLADIVOSTOK?

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Damn ! no alternative company ? with the Sakhaline -> Japan ferry also out, that leaves no roro option out of Russia !

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2- and 4-wheeled explorer and photographer
Overland Aventure

Not quite.
There are roro options but only for the bike.

I am gutted to find out we are heading that way in may 2021 so hope to have a roro option for our campervan like.

What are the RoRo options, GPZ?

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Morocco Overland 4 (2025) • Trans Morocco Trail

Well,
I attach what Yuri has sent to me:

16th Jan.
"RO/RO doesn't take passengers. What is Suzuka? It sounds Japanese.
This RO/RO ship goes to Japan every week and to Korea approximately
2 times a month. I spoke to their office and they say it must be no
problem to take travellers bikes aboard to Korea and Japan. But
anyway we'll talk to them in details when situation with DBS ferry will be clear."

17th Jan.
"RO/RO goes to three ports in Japan. One is Maizuru which is near to Sakaiminato where DBS goes. Two others are small, I don't remember.
They are also somewhere there. We will check all this information some time later and let all customers know."


23rd Jan for interest.
"you can drop bike here and we'll ship to Europe. We ship many vehicles in containers to Rotterdam and Hamburg. Shipping of one bike costs USD1250. We ship to UK not so often. If we ship to UK separately in box as LCL it may cost USD2000 or so. If we ship in container with some other vehicles it would be cheaper."

3rd Feb.
"We need to talk to that RO/RO company. It is not easy with them. And also
we need to understand how customers will be dealing with customs
clearance in Japan.
As an option we can ship to Korea in container and you may
take another ferry from Korea to Japan. I think we'll have many
inquiries about Korea and Japan now. But Japan is difficult
country. We don't have agent there whom we can ship container with vehicles. We have agent in Korea. It is easier in Korea then in Japan."

All in all it doesn't sound very promising. I have not heard any more from him about the RoRo option. Some research found a company https://www.fesco.ru/en/clients/ro-ro/ which is presumably the RoRo line he is talking about. But if DBS is primarily not operating because of Japanese/South Korean tensions then the RoRo may be affected similarly.
Then of course there is coronavirus.
As far as I can see, the roro to Japan takes between 3 and 6 days depending on where you want the vehicle to be unloaded. It does not take passengers so one would have to fly and meet it.
Personally, at the moment, I am resigned to leaving the bike in Vladivostock, taking a flight to Osaka and then either flying direct back to the UK and Yuri shipping the bike back to Europe or flying back to Vlad and riding the bike home. I would rather do the latter but I don't have much time. I was originally going to ship the bike back from Busan.
I have a specific date with the Suzuka 8hrs endurance race on the 19th July but if the Olympics are cancelled then the race will be too.

Bummer!!

I am in Japan and was looking at riding back to Europe, UK or Spain. This looks unlikely now. However if GPZ want some one to ride his bike back, let me know and or consider it.

I don't know what your planned departure date is but if you are in Japan and you have time on your side I'm quite sure that, with Yuri's help if necessary, you could easily sort out a roro to Vladivostok.

I always thought roro stood for role on role off as in ride on ride off.
My mind set is perhaps slightly different from normal adv travel. I live in Japan (but don't speak Japanese) I return to the EU once a year simply to visit my mother. This year I was going to ride the return journey with very few detours as time is limited. I have ridden the UK to Mongolia return before, Stans, Pamir highway, that trip was aimed at as much wilderness, wild camping and off road riding as I could manage. By contrast this trip would simply be a road ride as an alternative to flying, roadside hotels along the way. I'll contact the agent recommended earlier on topic but imagine the time and organization may tip the balance for the trip.

RoRo does indeed mean Roll on, Roll off, but this is to differentiate it from loading inside shipping containers which would be faff sending 1000s of Hyundais from S Korea to the RotW.
It very rarely means the owner rides/drives on, let alone can travel on the same ship. That is a ferry. A bike usually gets pushed on and you have to fly. I only recently fully got this myself. I imagine the flow of used cars from Japan to Russia (if it still exists) has supported RoRo service between those two places.

(Other key examples for overlanders include Greece–Israel for Africa and Malaysia–Sarawak for Indonesia – but still a dead end at Timor). There might be a BA (Arg) to USA one too.

Where no ferry is available, the great advantage with RoRo shipping for a traveller is not getting involved in containers which makes the process quicker and cheaper but potentially less secure.

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Morocco Overland 4 (2025) • Trans Morocco Trail

My trip is also only the main route across Russia with a limited timescale.
Please let us know what you find re. the roro because there are quite a few hoping to get bikes and cars from Russia to Japan this summer.