London Gateway to Gdansk shipping route.

Ships leaving London Gateway for Gdansk head east and cover a sea distance of 973 nautical miles (1,802 km), on a direct course. The straight line between the ports is 1,256 km; coastlines and shipping lanes add the rest. 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 2.9 days at sea. Slow steaming at 12 knots stretches it to 3.4 days, while 18 knots brings it down to 2.3. 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 London Gateway and Gdansk to plan the full ocean transit time.

973 nm of the route, 100% 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 London Gateway 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 61 port to port routes from London Gateway in this directory, Gdansk is the 4th shortest. Closer destinations include Gothenburg (577 nm), Hamburg (404 nm) and Bremerhaven (358 nm).