Hamburg to Qingdao shipping route.

Ships leaving Hamburg for Qingdao head north east and cover a sea distance of 11,106 nautical miles (20,569 km), via Suez Canal. The straight line between the ports is 8,026 km; coastlines and shipping lanes add the rest. On the way the vessel passes Suez Canal, Bab-el-Mandeb, Strait of Malacca and Strait of Gibraltar, 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 33.1 days at sea. Slow steaming at 12 knots stretches it to 38.6 days, while 18 knots brings it down to 25.7. Liner schedules on the lane quote 5 to 64 days port to port, because the services call at other ports and some transship. Over the last 30 days we counted 69 sailings by 9 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 13,774 nm instead of 11,106 nm and spends roughly 7.9 extra days at sea. Ask your forwarder which routing the carrier uses: the booking price and the arrival date both depend on it.

2,599 nm of the route, 23% of it, lies inside North Sea ECA and 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 DEHAM to CNTAO start at $1,810 for a 20GP and $3,020 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 Hamburg in this directory, Qingdao is the 56th shortest. Closer destinations include Shanghai (10,842 nm), Ningbo (10,728 nm) and Kaohsiung (10,304 nm).