Charleston to Cartagena shipping route.

The shipping route from Charleston, United States to Cartagena, Colombia covers 1,820 nautical miles port to port, on a direct course. On a globe the two ports sit 2,528 km apart, so the ship sails 1.33 times the straight line distance. No canals on this leg, the extra miles come from sailing around headlands and islands.

Shipping time depends on speed. At 14 knots, a common container ship service speed, the passage takes 5.4 days at sea. Slow steaming at 12 knots stretches it to 6.3 days, while 18 knots brings it down to 4.2. 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 Charleston and Cartagena to plan the full ocean transit time.

367 nm of the route, 20% of it, lies inside North American 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 Charleston to Cartagena move with fuel prices, ship capacity and the season. Compare several carriers before booking: the cheapest sailing is often the slowest one. At Cartagena (COCTG) carriers give about 10 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 Charleston in this directory, Cartagena is the 4th shortest. Closer destinations include Balboa (1,608 nm), Houston (1,401 nm) and New York (644 nm).