Hi Chris,

We were planning to use the ferry's in 2016 on our trip from Amsterdam to Tokyo. So your post came in as really bad news. Especially so because we just had the attached conversations in march 2015;

What do you think of these conversations and the position of the people we had them with?

Does it shed any new light on the matter?

Thanks for all the good work Chris!

Regards
Wilco (and my friend Milko)

I don't know what the company Inflot has to do with the ferry, but the ferry operator Heart Land Ferry (ハートランドフェリー) says the plan is to discontinue after this year. If they can get funding for it to continue, I think they will have service next year. However, Wakkanai City does not want to pay $400,000 in subsidies required to keep it going. Like the message says, they might continue as a "new organization" if someone will pay the subsidies needed to keep it running. I would like to help out the ferry, but unfortunately I don't have that kind of money :offtopic:
There is rumor of a new ferry service to Japan next year, but not from Sakhalin:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...y-2016-a-82026

Hi Chris

What if "the organization concerned" mentioned by Heart Land Ferry is Inflot?
Just a thought ...

Your news of the new connection is welcome as well !

Greetz
Wilco

Update from on the ground
 

Hi Chris,
I arrived in Sakhalin on the Heartland ferry today and had a chance to speak with the shipping agent here. His advice is that the ferry will continue well into the future but under a Russian operator. Hope this helps for those planning for 2016 and beyond.

Now staying in the Pervy Sakhalinisk Hostel in Yuzhno and it is brilliant and cheap. Super friendly operators, spotlessly clean and secure parking for the bikes.

Carnet for all Japan ports?
 

Excuse me if I'm being dumb, but the original post from Chris was concerning a specific customs office in the north, I believe.


Do they currently require a carnet entering via Sakaiminato (from Vladivostok)?

I have heard of it being done in Sakaiminato by someone who had already arranged for cargo out of Japan.
Also done by someone at Hakata coming via Korea.
No guarantee without a carnet, but there is a chance.

I've just had a definitive answer to my question from the guy at the DBS office in Vladivostok, where I went with Yuri earlier. The guy came back to me after speaking to customs in Japan.

The only circumstances in which they'll let me in without a carnet is if I'm leaving Japan via ferry to Korea. Presumably I'd need to buy the ticket in advance.

Here's his email, a little confusing but I think I've understood correctly:

----------------

"Hello Sir ! Infortunatly, it is not impossible to go in Japan without
Carnet. This is Japan custom rules. There is only one way for you to take a ferry to JP with you
bike. It will be possible if you will be return from Sakaiminato to Donghae
(Korea) by our ferry. And from Korea you can take a plan to Vancoover
without problem.


--
Best regards,
cargo agent DBS Cruise Ferry
Rogov Artem mailto:ras.co@mail.ru"

--------------

The guy thought that pre-arranging air freight out of Japan wouldn't help - although he didn't ask this question of Japanese customs.

Hi guys,

Was in Wakkanai about 10 days ago and spoke to the ferry people. As Chris already reported, the ferry to Sakhalin will definitely no longer run as from 2016 unless they can find another company to take over the route.

October 1 newspaper article says that Wakkanai City plans to form a new ferry company to start next year. They want to operate from April to December, so we won't have to worry about the September cutoff (assuming that the plan actually becomes reality). They still have some issues to work out, but it is promising that they actually working on starting a new ferry service.

crossing the river
 

hey chris, not sure if you or anybody else can give me confirmation but just checked the dbs website and still shows a ferry timetable, I was looking for vladivostock, south korea, japan then to usa , bikeme and ferry is any of this still possible would you know ; would be leaving vlad sometime in September 2016,
cheers in advance.
ben

Ben, that is a different ferry than the one that is the subject of this thread.
I have not heard of DBS's Vladivostok route being canceled.

Any news here on the Ferry from Sakhalin to Hokkaido?

Service will not start this year.
In fact, the ship used by the previous operator was just sold to a company in the Philippines. The new operator was supposed to buy it, but Wakkanai city was not able to put together a crew for the Wakkanai - Sakhalin route. NO chance of a ferry operating in 2016. Who knows about next year.

Thats really a pitty. But thanks for the infos Chris

Ferry 2017
 

The most interesting is that there is only 1 conection from Wladivostok to Japan.
It mean that no much traffic and interest are from Russia to Japan??
I was few time in Russia and I know that it looks quite diferent than Europian conections betwen countries but it is still unusual for me to close popular and short conections.
I belive that will start in 2017.
I plan long travel to fast east Russia and Japan in 2017.