Gdansk to Rotterdam shipping route.

The shipping route from Gdansk, Poland to Rotterdam, Netherlands covers 885 nautical miles port to port, on a direct course. On a globe the two ports sit 986 km apart, so the ship sails 1.66 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 2.6 days at sea. Slow steaming at 12 knots stretches it to 3.1 days, while 18 knots brings it down to 2.0. 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 Gdansk and Rotterdam to plan the full ocean transit time.

869 nm of the route, 98% of it, lies inside North Sea ECA and Baltic 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 Gdansk to Rotterdam move with fuel prices, ship capacity and the season. Compare several carriers before booking: the cheapest sailing is often the slowest one. At Rotterdam (NLRTM) 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 Gdansk in this directory, Rotterdam is the 4th shortest. Closer destinations include Hamburg (785 nm), Bremerhaven (738 nm) and Gothenburg (419 nm).