Ferry Bandar Abbas to Dubai / Sharjah

[danielsprague]

Surprisingly, I can't find any info on this on the HUBB.

Can anyone give me a rough idea of the cost of taking a car (Toyota Hilux, normal size) on the ferry from Bandar Abbas to either Dubai or Sharjah (or wherever is cheaper).

Thanks,

Daniel

[Stephano]

Originally Posted by danielsprague

Surprisingly, I can't find any info on this on the HUBB.

Can anyone give me a rough idea of the cost of taking a car (Toyota Hilux, normal size) on the ferry from Bandar Abbas to either Dubai or Sharjah (or wherever is cheaper).

Daniel
In case you haven't found any threads...
Valfajr is the ferry company running this route. Try using Google as follows: Valfajr site:horizonsunlimited.com

If the links don't answer your question about car prices you could then try contacting the company. Hope that helps slightly.
Stephan

[danielsprague]

Got an email back from the Valfajre-8 guys, quoting ca US$100 for me and US$600 for the car. Seem to be just two services to Sharjah per month, so I'm looking into the Dubai ferry.

Daniel

[Stephano]

Originally Posted by danielsprague

I'm looking into the Dubai ferry.

Daniel

It's all the same really, although Dubai Port will probably try to milk more out of you than Sharjah.

Hope it works out and wish you a smooth passage.
Stephan

[nicolasrapp]

Just FYI, here are the latest on the ferry as of August 2010. Goes from Sharjah to bandar Abbas, and cost UAE 2000 (around $600) for one person and a land cruiser. Costs on the Iranian side should be around $200. Ferry leaves on Sunday and Tuesday at 9 pm and arrives in the morning on the other side.
You need to go to oasis office in Sharjah cause the dubai office doesn't handle vehicle paperwork.

[Margus]

I just posted our very recent experience going from Bandar Abbas to Sharjah in the Trip Transport section. You can read about it here.

[harryls]

I have just come across a few days ago and have posted my experience Under Margus's link above. It is also on vegibike.com

[TravelStoryDK]

As seen on our travel blog: www.travel-story.dk/cape2cape
---------------------------------------------------------

Ok, here is how we got our Land Rover Defender 110 from Bandar Abbas in Iran to Sharjah in U.A.E.. This ferry connection is at the moment, to my knowledge anyway, the only option if you want to get your vehicle across.
We arrived in Bandar Abbas a few days before we wanted to ship out. The ferry departs from Bandar Abbas every Monday and Wednesday. Be aware – they change the schedule as they like, so try to double check the departure days, if you are short on time.
There is very little official information about this ferry line on the internet, but we managed to find out that it is the government owned Valfajre-8 that runs the shipping line.
With no address on a ticket office (impossible to find), we just drove out to the Shahid Bahonar Docks, where the ferry is leaving from. It is situated 4km west outside Bandar Abbas. Here we were sent back towards the city, to a company called: “South Line Shipping Company”. The exact GPS location of their office is:
N 27°09.957
E 056°13.787
Here they acted as they had never shipped a car before, but assured us that it was the right place. After a LOT of confusion, and visiting 8-10 different offices, we finally were able to talk to the right guy. The crossing would cost us 600USD for the car. South Line Shipping Company was NOT able to sell us the passenger tickets, but a different office in the same building could. The price here was 100USD pr. person.
We had booked for a Monday departure, and South Line Shipping Company asked us to be at the Shahid Bahonar Docks at 08.00am. The ferry would depart at 09.00pm. So we had to be there 13 hours before departure! A very long story short, the car was first ready for loading (RO/RO ferry) at 06.00pm. Luckily we were told it would be a good idea to hire a “handler” to take us through the paperwork. Honestly, we would never have succeeded in doing all the paperwork without him. Keep in mind that NOBODY speaks English, and that all the paperwork is in Persian. Handlers can be hired for around 50USD, and is essentially just cabdrivers, that also offer this service. They can normally be found at the entrance to the harbor.
The handler and I went from office to office to office – no kidding – I lost count at 14 offices! Really the best 50 bucks I ever spent.
Totally the costs on the Iranian side were just about 200USD. Please remember that VISA and MasterCard’s etc. is NOT accepted in Iran, due to sanctions from USA. So cash only (Rials or USD).
The docking went smooth, I was asked to drive aboard myself.
The ferry itself is not new, but not too bad. The name of the vessel we went on was Hormuz 14. On our crossing there were plenty of seats (no cabins, only flight-like seats); despite rumors saying it is overcrowded. We were served supper and a light breakfast. Both quite good, defiantly a lot better than most in-flight food I’ve been served!
Tuesday at 09.00am we arrived in Sharjah, about an hour’s drive from Dubai. The crossing had caused a lot of people getting seasick, and the toilets were flooded with all sorts of things.
Passengers have to wait until all the cargo has been set ashore. Took almost 2 hours! The customs on both sides went smooth for us (and we have a loaded car!). But still, everything takes heaps of time in this part of the world.
To get our vehicle released we had to use a shipping agency called Good Luck Shipping LLC. They have a small container office right where the ferry docks in Sharjarh. They did most of the paperwork for us.
Ok then, hope our experience can be of help to other travelers.
Cheers
Michael

[Rixxy's]

Hey all, I have just posted our report for this ferry crossing (Sept 2011, 2 passengers and 1 motorbike) here: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...151#post355555

including prices and contact information.

All the best!