Iwakuni, Japan
Port · JPIWK · 34.20°, 132.24° · Mineral Products, Chemical & Allied Industries, Wood & Wood Products
- in force · 60 nm
- 0
- issued · 30 d
- 0
- archive messages
- 5
- vessel calls / yr
- 3,840
About the port
The World Port Index lists Iwakuni as a medium open roadstead harbour with good shelter.
Listed depths: 22 m in the channel, 14 m at the anchorage, 11 m at the cargo pier and 16 m at the oil terminal, with a mean rise of tide of 3 m.
Entry can be restricted by tide, swell and other conditions.
Pilotage is not compulsory but is advisable.
Repair facilities are rated limited.
Iwakuni is a first port of entry.
PortWatch estimates 2,923 port calls at Iwakuni from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, about 244 a month, 16% fewer than in the twelve months before.
By vessel type, tankers 78%, general cargo ships 10% and container ships 6% of those calls.
Estimated cargo over the same months: 5.9 million t imported and 2.6 million t exported.
The busiest month was Sep 2025 (322 calls) and the quietest Apr 2026 (163).
What is reported near this port
5 warnings in this archive have their reported position within 60 nm of Iwakuni, the earliest issued in 1997; the most common types are quakes (5).
Distance is measured to each warning's reported point or area centre, so a warning near Iwakuni is not necessarily about the port; collection is incomplete between 2024-05 and 2026-08-17.
Port calls per month · IMF PortWatch estimates
Oct 2024 – Sep 2026 (last bar: month in progress) · last complete month Aug 2026: 221 calls, 248 thousand t in, 165 thousand t out
Warnings within 60 nm, by year of issue
In force within 60 nm · 0
Nothing in force within 60 nm right now.
Port characteristics · World Port Index
- harbour
- medium open roadstead
- shelter
- good
- water body
- Sea of Japan; North Pacific Ocean
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA XI
- depths
- channel 22 m · anchorage 14 m · cargo pier 11 m · oil terminal 16 m
- mean rise of tide
- 3 m
- entrance restricted by
- other, swell, tide; not ice
- turning area
- yes
- good holding ground
- yes
- pilotage
- advisable; not compulsory
- tugs
- assistance, salvage
- traffic and reporting
- ETA message required
- berthing
- anchorage, wharves
- cranes
- fixed
- services
- dirty ballast reception, longshore labour, medical; not electrical repair, navigation equipment repair
- supplies
- diesel, fuel oil, provisions, water; not deck stores, engine stores
- repairs
- limited
- marine railway
- small
- first port of entry
- yes
- sailing directions
- Sailing Directions Pub. 159 (Enroute) - Japan - Volume II
- chart
- 97288
World Port Index entry Iwakuni Ko (No. 61662), matched by UN/LOCODE. NGA Publication 150 (U.S. government work). The index describes the port as last surveyed for the publication; it is not a substitute for Sailing Directions or port authority information.
Share of Japan's maritime trade through this port (PortWatch): imports 1.1%, exports 1.2%.
Chokepoint and port data: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org) — IMF and the University of Oxford, via the UN Global Platform. Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA / coastal broadcasts and port authority notices.