Shimonoseki, Japan
Port · JPSHS · 33.94°, 130.93°
- in force · 60 nm
- 0
- issued · 30 d
- 0
- archive messages
- 9
- vessel calls / yr
- 1,228
About the port
The World Port Index lists Shimonoseki as a small coastal natural harbour with good shelter.
Listed depths: 13 m in the channel, 9 m at the anchorage, 11 m at the cargo pier and 16 m at the oil terminal, with a mean rise of tide of 2 m.
Entry can be restricted by tide, swell and other conditions.
Pilotage is compulsory.
Repair facilities are rated major, with a small drydock.
Shimonoseki is a first port of entry.
PortWatch estimates 1,286 port calls at Shimonoseki from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, about 107 a month, 5% more than in the twelve months before.
By vessel type, tankers 65%, general cargo ships 20% and dry bulk carriers 8% of those calls.
Estimated cargo over the same months: 350 thousand t imported and 418 thousand t exported.
The busiest month was Jul 2026 (120 calls) and the quietest Jan 2026 (83).
What is reported near this port
9 warnings in this archive have their reported position within 60 nm of Shimonoseki, the earliest issued in 1997; the most common types are quakes (8) and cable ops (1).
Distance is measured to each warning's reported point or area centre, so a warning near Shimonoseki 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: 120 calls, 30 thousand t in, 42 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
- small coastal natural
- shelter
- good
- water body
- Korea Strait; North Pacific Ocean
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA XI
- depths
- channel 13 m · anchorage 9 m · cargo pier 11 m · oil terminal 16 m
- mean rise of tide
- 2 m
- entrance restricted by
- other, swell, tide; not ice
- turning area
- yes
- good holding ground
- no
- pilotage
- compulsory
- tugs
- assistance
- traffic and reporting
- ETA message required
- berthing
- anchorage, Mediterranean mooring, wharves
- cranes
- fixed, mobile
- services
- dirty ballast reception, electrical repair, longshore labour, medical, navigation equipment repair
- supplies
- deck stores, diesel, engine stores, fuel oil, provisions, water
- repairs
- major
- drydock
- small
- marine railway
- small
- first port of entry
- yes
- sailing directions
- Sailing Directions Pub. 159 (Enroute) - Japan - Volume II
- chart
- 97319, 97321
World Port Index entry Shimonoseki (No. 61700), 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 0.1%, exports 0.1%.
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.