Overview
- The Sea Bridge left Trabzon on November 5 at about 21:40 local time and reached Sochi the next morning with 20 passengers on board, including 18 Russians and 2 Turks, according to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.
- ATOR said Russian authorities did not grant the vessel permission to enter the country, and the port of Sochi was closed for exercises until noon, leaving the ship on the roadstead for roughly 11 hours.
- The sailing marked the first attempt to restore the Trabzon–Sochi passenger link since 2011, with the ferry earlier reported to have entered Russian territorial waters on November 6.
- Regular service is scheduled twice weekly in each direction, with departures from Trabzon on Wednesdays and Sundays and from Sochi on Thursdays and Saturdays.
- Operations are passenger-only for now with vehicle carriage planned later, tickets are on sale with reported starting fares from $35 to $55, the voyage is about 12 hours, and the vessel is rated for roughly 450 passengers.