A new ferry service opened to connect Russia, Japan and South Korea is viewed as an important landmark in the development of relations between the three countries, governor of Tottori Prefecture Shinji Hirai said at an opening ceremony of the new ferry service Wednesday.
The new ferry service connects the seaport of Sakaiminato in the Tottori prefecture with a South Korea port Tonhe in the province of Kangwon Do and the Russian seaport of Vladivostok.
Earlier, the Sea of Japan had been an insurmountable wall, while now the sea connects the three countries; it is a historic event similar to construction of a bridge between the three countries, the Tottori governor told the opening ceremony.
The Eastern Dream ferry will service the new ferry route. The ferry that has a displacement of 14,000 tons belongs to the DBS Cruise Ferry company and sails under Panamanian colors. Its speed is 20 knots and a carrying capacity is around 530 people, including crew. The ferry is capable to take aboard around 70 cars and 130 cargo containers. It takes the ferry 18 hours to sail from Vladivostok to the South Korean seaport, and 12 hours to sail from South Korea to Japan.
The administrations of the Russian Maritime region, the Tottori prefecture and the South Korean province of Kangwon Do decided to open the ferry service after negotiations conducted since November 2007. A final resolution on opening the ferry service was adopted at a meeting of the Northeast Asian administrations held in September 2008.
The press service of the Tottori prefecture told Tass that the ferry was first commissioned in the early 1990s to connect Honshu and Okinawa. The ferry is in a good condition and is equipped with the latest navigation systems, it said.
Earlier, the Tottori governor told Tass that the new ferry service heralds a new epoch in the relations between the three countries - Russia, South Korea and Japan that have vast opportunities for the development of cooperation. The new ferry service might prove a turning point towards broader cooperation between the three countries, the Tottori governor said.