Valencia to Laem Chabang shipping route.

The shipping route from Valencia, Spain to Laem Chabang, Thailand covers 7,537 nautical miles port to port, via Suez Canal. On a globe the two ports sit 10,023 km apart, so the ship sails 1.39 times the straight line distance. On the way the vessel passes Suez Canal, Bab-el-Mandeb and Strait of Malacca, 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 22.4 days at sea. Slow steaming at 12 knots stretches it to 26.2 days, while 18 knots brings it down to 17.4. Liner schedules on the lane quote 26 to 54 days port to port, because the services call at other ports and some transship. Over the last 30 days we counted 40 sailings by 4 carriers (CMA CGM, ONE, OOCL and ZIM).

The shortest route goes through the Red Sea. Since attacks on shipping began there in late 2023, many carriers send ships via Cape of Good Hope instead. That route is 11,932 nautical miles, 4,395 more, and adds about 13.1 days at 14 knots. Longer voyages burn more fuel and tie up more ships, which is why freight rates on Red Sea lanes jumped when the diversions started.

1,668 nm of the route, 22% 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.

Recent freight rates for ESVLC to THLCH start at $2,920 for a 20GP and $3,550 for a 40GP. These are spot market prices from carriers that sail the lane; your quote will also include terminal handling, documentation and any bunker surcharge. At Laem Chabang (THLCH) carriers give about 5 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 Valencia in this directory, Laem Chabang is the 43rd shortest. Closer destinations include Ho Chi Minh City (7,369 nm), Tanjung Priok (7,017 nm) and Singapore (6,740 nm).