Otaru, Japan
Port · JPOTR · 43.20°, 141.01° · Mineral Products, Vegetable Products, Wood & Wood Products
- in force · 60 nm
- 0
- issued · 30 d
- 0
- archive messages
- 9
- vessel calls / yr
- 366
About the port
The World Port Index lists Otaru as a medium coastal breakwater harbour with good shelter.
Listed depths: 11 m in the channel, 13 m at the anchorage, 14 m at the cargo pier and 6 m at the oil terminal.
Entry can be restricted by swell.
Pilotage is not compulsory but is advisable.
Repair facilities are rated limited.
Otaru is a first port of entry.
PortWatch estimates 363 port calls at Otaru from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, about 30 a month, 4% fewer than in the twelve months before.
By vessel type, tankers 38%, general cargo ships 36% and container ships 13% of those calls.
Estimated cargo over the same months: 290 thousand t imported and 27 thousand t exported.
The busiest month was Oct 2025 (37 calls) and the quietest Apr 2026 (22).
What is reported near this port
9 warnings in this archive have their reported position within 60 nm of Otaru, the earliest issued in 2007; the most common types are quakes (6), nav aids (2) and incidents (1).
Distance is measured to each warning's reported point or area centre, so a warning near Otaru 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: 35 calls, 22 thousand t in, 3 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 coastal breakwater
- shelter
- good
- water body
- Sea of Japan; North Pacific Ocean
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA XI
- depths
- channel 11 m · anchorage 13 m · cargo pier 14 m · oil terminal 6 m
- entrance restricted by
- swell; not ice, tide
- turning area
- yes
- good holding ground
- no
- pilotage
- advisable; not compulsory
- tugs
- assistance
- traffic and reporting
- ETA message required
- berthing
- wharves
- cranes
- mobile; not floating
- services
- dirty ballast reception, garbage disposal, longshore labour, medical
- supplies
- deck stores, diesel, engine stores, fuel oil, provisions, water
- repairs
- limited
- marine railway
- small
- first port of entry
- yes
- sailing directions
- Sailing Directions Pub. 159 (Enroute) - Japan - Volume II
- chart
- 96931
World Port Index entry Otaru Ko (No. 61230), 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 0.0%, exports 0.0%.
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.