Cartagena to Antwerp shipping route.

Cartagena to Antwerp is a 4,701 nautical mile shipping route on a direct course, heading north east from Colombia to Belgium. That is 8,707 km of water against 8,406 km as the crow flies. No canals or major straits on this leg, the ship stays close to the direct line.

Shipping time depends on speed. At 14 knots, a common container ship service speed, the passage takes 14.0 days at sea. Slow steaming at 12 knots stretches it to 16.3 days, while 18 knots brings it down to 10.9. Container transit time on a liner service is longer than the steaming time: ships call at other ports on the rotation, and cargo may transship at a hub. Add terminal time at Cartagena and Antwerp to plan the full ocean transit time.

580 nm of the route, 12% of it, lies inside US Caribbean Sea ECA and North 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.

Container freight rates on Cartagena to Antwerp move with fuel prices, ship capacity and the season. Compare several carriers before booking: the cheapest sailing is often the slowest one. At Antwerp (BEANR) carriers give about 5 free days before demurrage and detention charges start, so plan the truck or rail pickup before the box lands.

Of the 65 port to port routes from Cartagena in this directory, Antwerp is the 20th shortest. Closer destinations include Barcelona (4,673 nm), London Gateway (4,650 nm) and Felixstowe (4,649 nm).