Mombasa to Barcelona shipping route.

Mombasa to Barcelona is a 4,691 nautical mile shipping route via Suez Canal, heading north west from Kenya to Spain. That is 8,688 km of water against 6,319 km as the crow flies. On the way the vessel passes Suez Canal and Bab-el-Mandeb, 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 14.0 days at sea. Slow steaming at 12 knots stretches it to 16.3 days, while 18 knots brings it down to 10.9. 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 Mombasa and Barcelona to plan the full ocean transit time.

Red Sea security changes the sea distance on this lane. A ship sent via Cape of Good Hope sails 8,238 nm instead of 4,691 nm and spends roughly 10.6 extra days at sea. Ask your forwarder which routing the carrier uses: the booking price and the arrival date both depend on it.

1,591 nm of the route, 34% of it, lies inside 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 Mombasa to Barcelona move with fuel prices, ship capacity and the season. Compare several carriers before booking: the cheapest sailing is often the slowest one. At Barcelona (ESBCN) 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 65 port to port routes from Mombasa in this directory, Barcelona is the 19th shortest. Closer destinations include Genoa (4,540 nm), Tanjung Priok (4,184 nm) and Singapore (4,126 nm).