Port of Hachinohe

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Port of Hachinohe: A seaport on Japan’s Pacific coast in Hachinohe city, Aomori Prefecture, in the northern part of Honshu. It is a Specially-Authorized Port, with immigration and customs facilities for international trade. The port covers 619 hectares and has 48 berths.

History and growth: The area developed as a castle town and fishing port in the Edo period. In the Meiji era, Dutch engineer Anthonie Mulder redesigned the port. Immigration facilities opened in 1925 and foreign trade began in 1928. It became a primary seaport in 1954. The port weathered tsunamis in 1960 and 1968 and was expanded from the 1970s to the 1990s with more berths and a port island.

What it does now: Regular container services started in the 1990s to Southeast Asia, Korea, the United States, and China. In 2001, the Hattaro Refrigerated Warehouse was built to store perishable goods. The port suffered heavy damage from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake tsunami but was rebuilt.

Operations and facilities: The Hachinohe Port Authority runs the port and its 48 berths for both domestic and international container services. Domestic routes go to Tokyo and Yokohama; international routes reach Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Australia, South America, Europe, Canada, and the United States. The port has seven fuel terminals with capacity to store over 11 million barrels of oil, supplying the local fishing fleet and nearby Misawa Air Base. Hachinohe is a major fishing port, with large catches of seafood. It also has regular ferry service to Tomakomai, Hokkaidō.