13:00 Tomorrow – Lina Ferry Trial Voyage from Hualien to Ishigaki: Take a Ship to Japan

▲ Lina Ferry (Photo / Provided by Huagang Group)

Reported by Chen Ruizhong / Taipei

From May 14 to May 15, the Lina Ferry will conduct a trial voyage on the Hualien–Ishigaki Island route. The Hualien Harbor Bureau’s website shows that the Lina Ferry is scheduled to arrive at Hualien Port at 11:00 on the 14th, depart for Ishigaki at 13:00, and is expected to arrive in Ishigaki at 18:30 local time.

According to the official Facebook page of the Lina Ferry, tickets for the trial voyage are not available for sale, and actual sailing times and fares have not yet been officially announced. Referring to the shorter Taipei–Pingtan route compared to Hualien–Ishigaki, the adult round-trip fare on the Lina Ferry is NT$5,200 for standard class and NT$7,200 for business class. As for the official operation details after the launch, they will be announced after the trial voyage on the 14th–15th concludes.

If the Lina Ferry officially launches the Hualien–Ishigaki route, it is sure to boost exchanges between eastern Taiwan and Japan, and ferry services can also offer more convenient options such as luggage check-in and bicycle transport. However, some netizens from other regions believe that just getting a “Taipei–Hualien” train ticket might be harder than booking a ferry ticket from Hualien to Ishigaki, so the actual convenience remains to be seen.