Houston to Montreal shipping route.

The shipping route from Houston, United States to Montreal, Canada covers 3,313 nautical miles port to port, on a direct course. On a globe the two ports sit 2,580 km apart, so the ship sails 2.38 times the straight line distance. No canals on this leg, the extra miles come from sailing around headlands and islands.

At sea, the voyage lasts 11.5 days at 12 knots, 9.9 days at 14 knots and 7.7 days at 18 knots. 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 Houston and Montreal to plan the full ocean transit time.

3,090 nm of the route, 93% 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 Houston to Montreal move with fuel prices, ship capacity and the season. Compare several carriers before booking: the cheapest sailing is often the slowest one. At Montreal (CAMTR) carriers give about 3 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 Houston in this directory, Montreal is the 8th shortest. Closer destinations include Manzanillo (3,242 nm), Callao (2,939 nm) and New York (1,921 nm).