Kobe, Japan
Port · JPUKB · 34.67°, 135.23° · Mineral Products, Vegetable Products, Wood & Wood Products
- in force · 60 nm
- 0
- issued · 30 d
- 0
- archive messages
- 9
- vessel calls / yr
- 10,594
About the port
The World Port Index lists Kobe as a large open roadstead harbour with good shelter.
Listed depths: 14 m in the channel, 16 m at the anchorage, 14 m at the cargo pier and 14 m at the oil terminal, with a mean rise of tide of 2 m.
Entry can be restricted by other conditions.
Pilotage is compulsory.
Repair facilities are rated major, with a large drydock.
Kobe is a first port of entry.
PortWatch estimates 10,751 port calls at Kobe from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, about 896 a month, close to the twelve months before.
By vessel type, container ships 38%, general cargo ships 26% and tankers 24% of those calls.
Estimated cargo over the same months: 23 million t imported and 15 million t exported.
The busiest month was Mar 2026 (937 calls) and the quietest Feb 2026 (823).
What is reported near this port
9 warnings in this archive have their reported position within 60 nm of Kobe, the earliest issued in 1999; the most common types are quakes (5) and incidents (4).
Distance is measured to each warning's reported point or area centre, so a warning near Kobe 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: 878 calls, 2.0 million t in, 1.1 million t out
Warnings within 60 nm, by year of issue
In force within 60 nm · 0
Nothing in force within 60 nm right now.
Issued in the last 12 months, now cancelled · 1
Port characteristics · World Port Index
- harbour
- large open roadstead
- shelter
- good
- water body
- Sea of Japan; North Pacific Ocean
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA XI
- depths
- channel 14 m · anchorage 16 m · cargo pier 14 m · oil terminal 14 m
- mean rise of tide
- 2 m
- entrance restricted by
- other; not ice, swell, tide
- turning area
- yes
- pilotage
- compulsory
- tugs
- assistance; not salvage
- traffic and reporting
- ETA message required
- berthing
- Mediterranean mooring, wharves
- cranes
- fixed, floating, mobile
- services
- dirty ballast reception, electrical repair, garbage disposal, longshore labour, medical, navigation equipment repair
- supplies
- deck stores, diesel, engine stores, fuel oil, water
- repairs
- major
- drydock
- large
- marine railway
- small
- first port of entry
- yes
- sailing directions
- Sailing Directions Pub. 159 (Enroute) - Japan - Volume II
- chart
- 97191, 97197
World Port Index entry Kobe (No. 61560), 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 3.5%, exports 5.6%.
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.