NATCHAN NEO © Yoshiho Ikeda
FerryBLUE LUMINOUS, which plied between Hakodate and Aomori from 2020 to August 2025 under Tsugaru Kaikyo Ferry, was sold to High-speed Marine Transport and renamed NATCHAN NEO in autumn of 2025. She will be used as a transport ship by the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). Meanwhile, NATCHAN WORLD, which has been used by the JSDF under High-speed Marine Transport was sold to Seajets, and renamed TERA JET 3.
TERA JET 3 left Hakodate, Japan under the flag of Cyprus on 13 March 2026.
NATCHAN WORLD fast ferry was built for Higashi Nihon Ferry at Incat Tasmania in 2008 and entered service on the Hakodate-Aomori route on 2 May 2008. However, she retired in August 2012.
In March 2016, Tsugaru Kaikyo Ferry, a successor of Higashi Nihon Ferry sold NATCHAN WORLD to High-speed Marine Transport, a shipping company founded under Private Finance Initiative (PFI) law. And then, Ministry of Defense chartered NATCHAN WORLD for 10 years. Since then, the JSDF has used her as a transport ship.
© Shippax
NATCHAN WORLD © Tsuyoshi Ishiyama