Seattle to Melbourne shipping route.

Seattle to Melbourne is a 7,453 nautical mile shipping route on a direct course, heading south west from the United States to Australia. That is 13,804 km of water against 13,185 km as the crow flies. No canals or major straits on this leg, the ship stays close to the direct line.

At sea, the voyage lasts 25.9 days at 12 knots, 22.2 days at 14 knots and 17.3 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 Seattle and Melbourne to plan the full ocean transit time.

775 nm of the route, 10% 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 Seattle to Melbourne move with fuel prices, ship capacity and the season. Compare several carriers before booking: the cheapest sailing is often the slowest one. At Melbourne (AUMEL) carriers give about 8 free days before demurrage and detention charges start, so plan the truck or rail pickup before the box lands.

Of the 64 port to port routes from Seattle in this directory, Melbourne is the 31st shortest. Closer destinations include Port Klang (7,451 nm), Laem Chabang (7,221 nm) and Singapore (7,171 nm).