Barcelona to Qingdao shipping route.

The shipping route from Barcelona, Spain to Qingdao, China covers 9,135 nautical miles port to port, via Suez Canal. On a globe the two ports sit 9,357 km apart, so the ship sails 1.81 times the straight line distance. On the way the vessel passes Suez Canal, Bab-el-Mandeb and Strait of Malacca, so canal transit fees and waiting time at the canal are part of every voyage.

Shipping time depends on speed. At 14 knots, a common container ship service speed, the passage takes 27.2 days at sea. Slow steaming at 12 knots stretches it to 31.7 days, while 18 knots brings it down to 21.1. Liner schedules on the lane quote 33 to 97 days port to port, because the services call at other ports and some transship. Over the last 30 days we counted 82 sailings by 10 carriers (CMA CGM, COSCO, Evergreen, HMM and Hapag-Lloyd).

Red Sea security changes the sea distance on this lane. A ship sent via Panama Canal sails 13,580 nm instead of 9,135 nm and spends roughly 13.2 extra days at sea. Ask your forwarder which routing the carrier uses: the booking price and the arrival date both depend on it.

1,591 nm of the route, 17% of it, lies inside Mediterranean Sea ECA. In an emission control area ships must burn fuel with no more than 0.1% sulphur or clean the exhaust with scrubbers. That fuel costs more, and carriers add it to the ocean freight bill as a low sulphur or ECA surcharge.

Recent freight rates for ESBCN to CNTAO start at $2,925 for a 20GP and $3,735 for a 40GP. These are spot market prices from carriers that sail the lane; your quote will also include terminal handling, documentation and any bunker surcharge. At Qingdao (CNTAO) carriers give about 6 free days before demurrage and detention charges start, so plan the truck or rail pickup before the box lands.

Of the 64 port to port routes from Barcelona in this directory, Qingdao is the 56th shortest. Closer destinations include Vancouver (9,123 nm), Seattle (9,102 nm) and Shanghai (8,871 nm).