Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# fresh cargo from Efate to Epi? Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea / Vanuatu
marfru 12:34 UTC 10 Apr 2012 | Hi Anyone know if there are passenger boats from Efate to Epi?Prices,days,duration? Thanks Martin |
uncle_sav 03:39 UTC 11 Apr 2012 | No passenger boats but there are freighters which are very basic. You sit on the deck. The voyage is only 1 night at sea and ships leave around every 4 days. There is a pile of farm produce freighted from Epi to Efate every week. Ask at the wharf in the middle of the main street. If that is quiet there is another freight wharf beside the cruise ship wharf. Take a bus headed up the hill in the main street and say " Ifira Wharf ". Get out when you see containers all over the place. The office is a yellow building directly to the right of the middle gate. | 1
marfru 00:15 UTC 17 Apr 2012 | Thanks very much mate | 2
michal 12:13 UTC 23 Apr 2012 | I was in Vanuatu in July - August 2010. Fresh Cargo company had a passenger boat going once a week from Port Vila to Luganville via Epi and Malekula. I must look through my notes for more details. Mike | 3
tamarak58 05:57 UTC 02 May 2012 | Yes please do look through your notes Michal I am heading there next month - June 2012 and would not mind taking a cargo boat from Port Vila to Luganville. :) Cheers Tamara | 4
michal 12:13 UTC 17 May 2012 | Hi Tamara, Sorry for not responding, I was on a short holiday. I was in Vanuatu 6 weeks in July-August 2010. That time there were 2 companies that had passenger services. Fresh Cargo had a weekly service from Vila on Thursday going to Litslits (Norsup, North Malekula) and Luganville (Santo). Returning to Vila on Saturday. Price was 6500 vt one way to Litslits and 7500 vt to Luganville. They had also a weekly service from Vila on Monday going to Lenakel (Tanna). Returning to Vila on Tuesday. Price was 6500 vt one way. The second company was Big Sister, they had only one weekly service on Monday from Vila to Luganville via Epi and Malekula. Price was 7500 vt one way to Litslits (Malekula) and 9000 vt to Luganville. Returning to Vila on Wednesday. Fresh Cargo had a very small boat, and the trip was very often cancelled due to strong wind and very high waves on the ocean. Big Sister had much bigger and more reliable boat. I had only three boat trips during my stay in Vanuatu. I wanted to go from Vila to Malekula by Fresh Cargo boat, but the trip was cancelled so I went by plane. From Litslits (Malekula) to Luganville I travelled on a small cargo boat carrying copra (5 hours, 2000 vt). The connections on this route are quite frequent, 3-4 per week. From Luganville to Ndui Ndui (Ambae) I also travelled by cargo boat (6 hours, 2500 vt). The third trip was supposed to be from Vila to Tanna by Fresh Cargo boat. We departed from Vila at 6 pm, but we returned at midnight because there were very high waves on the ocean and the captain decided that it would be too dangerous to go all the way to Tanna. Regards, Mike | 5
obi81 15:12 UTC 23 May 2012 | Big Sista (passenger boat), 5500 one way, leaves Vila on Tuesday afternoon, arrives in Epi on Wednesday at 1 am | 6
obi81 15:15 UTC 23 May 2012 | Big Sista goes up to Santo, arrives there around 6 pm Wednesday, leaves Santo at 3 am Thursday, calls into Epi around 7 pm and arrives at Vila around 5 am on Friday. | 7