Houston to Piraeus shipping route.

Houston to Piraeus is a 6,217 nautical mile shipping route on a direct course, heading north east from the United States to Greece. That is 11,514 km of water against 10,173 km as the crow flies. On the way the vessel passes Strait of Gibraltar.

Shipping time depends on speed. At 14 knots, a common container ship service speed, the passage takes 18.5 days at sea. Slow steaming at 12 knots stretches it to 21.6 days, while 18 knots brings it down to 14.4. 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 Piraeus to plan the full ocean transit time.

2,265 nm of the route, 36% of it, lies inside North American 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.

Container freight rates on Houston to Piraeus move with fuel prices, ship capacity and the season. Compare several carriers before booking: the cheapest sailing is often the slowest one. At Piraeus (GRPIR) carriers give about 6.75 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, Piraeus is the 29th shortest. Closer destinations include Lagos (Apapa) (6,128 nm), Marsaxlokk (5,769 nm) and Vancouver (5,762 nm).