New cruise ship terminal building completed in Naha
A new cruise ship terminal building providing customs immigration and quarantine services at the Wakasa Berth in Naha.
March 29, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
A new cruise ship terminal building was completed at Okinawa’s hub of customs immigration and quarantine in Naha. On March 28, about 110 people from the Japanese and Okinawa Prefectural governments and tourism industries attended the inauguration at Wakasa Berth.
The attendees celebrated the completion of the new “Marine Gateway” to domestic and international tourism, which officially opened on April 1. The number of foreign tourists who use cruise ships to visit Okinawa is increasing.
Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima who is the superintendent of the Naha Port Management Association, delivered a ceremonial speech. He said, “Cruise ship tourism has become important in Okinawa. I am glad the new terminal was built.”
Building the terminal cost about 1.2 billion yen. It has two floors above ground with about 4,500 square meters of gross floor area. The first floor has a tourist information center and bus and taxi waiting area. The second floor has 16 immigration clearance booths, four custom inspection areas and a boarding bridge. Construction of the bridge will be completed around August. The terminal has a viewing deck on the rooftop.
According to the Naha Port Management Association, cruise ships called at the port 56 times in 2013. The port accepted the third largest number of cruise ships in the country, following Kobe Port with 102 and Yokohama Port with 152.
In 2014, cruise ships are scheduled to call at the Naha Port 88 times, the largest number in Okinawa’s history. The port expects about 1.3 billion people to be on board the ships and an economic impact of about 4.2 billion yen. A Voyager-class cruise ship MS Voyager of the Seas (137,276 tons) plans to visit the port 12 times.
(English translation by T&CT)
A new cruise ship terminal building providing customs immigration and quarantine services at the Wakasa Berth in Naha.
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