Bringing your car into Russia via ferry to Vladivostok

Intro
There are two routes to Russia from Japan at present. The main route is from Sakaiminato via Donghae in S. Korea and on to Vladivostok. The ferry company running this route is DBS Ferry and the boat is called the Eastern Dream

The other route is from Wakkanai the northernmost city in Japan via Sakhalin island and on to the port of Vanino in mainland Russia. On this route you arrive from Japan to Korsakov on the south east of Sakhalin, you then need to travel across the island to Kholmsk on the south west of the island to get the ferry to Vanino. This is definitely the more 'off the beaten path' of the two routes and is served by Heartland Ferry.

Sakaiminato - Vladivostok Ferry
We took the main route - Sakaiminato to Vladivostok. The ticket prices for DBS Ferry are available on their site via the links above. For reference at the time of our trip we paid US$600 for the vehicle transport and passenger details below:

Vehicle owner tariff 13,000 jpy + fuel surcharge 2,300 jpy

Companion tariff 26,000 jpy + fuel surcharge 2,300 jpy

43,600 JPY (Economy class)

Your contact person at DBS Ferry should be Tatiana Chernysheva <tatiana.dbsferryjp@gmail.com> she is top notch - communications are always quick and professional.

Customs Clearance
This is one of the most tedious parts of the whole trip and if done wrong could have disastrous consequences. From our experience it was more difficult to get the vehicle out of Japan than into Russia.

There are a number of customs clearance agents that we found on the Japanese side. We went with a guy called Mr Shimono. Communication with Mr Shimono is very difficult, he is very slow to respond, doesn't speak English and can be a bit vague. As mentioned in the preceding post we got some much needed assistance from Graeme's team at Auto Trader Imports with the customs clearance proceedings. Tatiana from DBS also offered to translate messages for us to Mr Shimono.

In the end we did get the customs clearance done with Mr Shimono, however it was a lot harder and more stressful than it had to be. We chose Mr Shimono as he was the agent recommended by DBS Ferry so we thought this might streamline the process as there was already a working relationship there, etc.

The other option I had found online for customs clearance is an English speaking guy called Hollis Humphreys. I can't comment on the services he provides as we did not use him but if I were to go through the process again I would go with him instead of Mr Shimono.

Last Minute Problems Leaving Japan
Less than 48 hours before sailing I received an email from DBS Ferry telling me they were sorry but they would not be able to transport our car. It was explained to me at the time that this had come from a manager in S. Korea who was concerned over the license plates we were using for the car (small Pacific island).

The message was relayed by Tatiana, at this point I told them that I would sign a letter saying that if the license plates on the car caused any issues at the Russian border that I would accept all liability for the transport of the car from that point. Tatiana relayed this back to management and after a few hours waiting tensely Tatiana called to say they agreed the car could go on the ferry.

Apart from this last minute problem dealing with DBS was painless, however I get the distinct impression that this was mostly because of Tatiana rather than their management team. We had been booked on the ferry since July, it was now the end of August and we were just now being told the car could not be transported.

If the car did not get into Russia we had real problems as I have no doubt it would have been a nightmare to get it back into Japan and it would have been very expensive to get it shipped to Europe as freight.

So my advice if DBS get a bit squeamish about your number plates or anything else to do with your car, tell them the car has to get on the boat, it has nowhere else to go and that you will sign a liability waiver. Be insistent.