Lagos (Apapa) to Gdansk shipping route.

The shipping route from Lagos (Apapa), Nigeria to Gdansk, Poland covers 5,090 nautical miles port to port, on a direct course. On a globe the two ports sit 5,505 km apart, so the ship sails 1.71 times the straight line distance. No canals on this leg, the extra miles come from sailing around headlands and islands.

Pure steaming time is 15.2 days at 14 knots. A carrier that slow steams at 12 knots to save fuel needs 17.7 days, and a fast 18 knot string about 11.8. 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 Lagos (Apapa) and Gdansk to plan the full ocean transit time.

1,250 nm of the route, 25% 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 Lagos (Apapa) to Gdansk move with fuel prices, ship capacity and the season. Compare several carriers before booking: the cheapest sailing is often the slowest one. At Gdansk (PLGDN) carriers give about 7.5 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 Lagos (Apapa) in this directory, Gdansk is the 21st shortest. Closer destinations include New York (5,060 nm), Cartagena (5,002 nm) and Gothenburg (4,694 nm).