After a 5-year hiatus, the international ferry route connecting Shanghai with Osaka and Kobe in Japan resumed passenger transportation on the 28th.
Ticket Sales to the General Public Planned From July 12
According to Kyodo News, about 30 passengers, including Chinese travelers, boarded the “Yangtze River Peace” from Shanghai Port for Osaka Port on that day. Ticket sales to the general public are scheduled to begin from the voyage departing on July 12. The passenger service on this route had been suspended since January 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Katsuo Okada, Consul General of Japan in Shanghai, attended a ceremony held aboard the ferry and called for support, saying: “We hope the Yangtze River Peace will become a bridge between the two countries. Everyone is welcome to travel by ferry to the Osaka/Kansai Expo.”
The Yangtze River Peace departs from Shanghai every week, alternating between docking at Osaka and Kobe every other week. The one-way voyage takes 3 days and 2 nights. The ferry can accommodate 192 passengers and offers five types of rooms, including tatami rooms for eight people and four-person bunkbed cabins. Fares start at 1,000 RMB (MYR 590) per person, with suites priced at 8,000 RMB (MYR 4,720) per suite. The Yangtze River Peace began cargo transportation in June last year.