Port-to-port sea distance
Houston to Ningbo distance
The sea distance from Houston (United States) to Ningbo (China) is about 10,314 nautical miles (19,102 km), via the Panama Canal. At 12 knots that is about 35 days 20 hours at sea.
Distance
10,314 nm
19,102 km
Sea days @ 12 kn
35.8
35 days 20 hours
ECA miles
1,097 nm
11% of the route
Canals & straits
1
Panama Canal
Sea days by speed
| Speed | One way | Round voyage |
|---|---|---|
| 10 knots | 43.0 days | 86.0 days |
| 11 knots | 39.1 days | 78.1 days |
| 12 knots | 35.8 days | 71.6 days |
| 13 knots | 33.1 days | 66.1 days |
| 14 knots | 30.7 days | 61.4 days |
| 15 knots | 28.7 days | 57.3 days |
Steaming time only, with no allowance for weather, canal waiting or port time. The round voyage assumes the ship ballasts back on the same route.
Routes compared
Avoiding the Panama Canal
13,831 nm+3,517 nm
48.0 days at 12 kn · Strait of Gibraltar · Suez Canal · Bab-el-Mandeb · Malacca Strait · 3,911 nm in ECA
See it on the mapVia the Cape (avoiding both Suez and Panama)
15,059 nm+4,745 nm
52.3 days at 12 kn · Sunda Strait · 1,068 nm in ECA
See it on the map- The Panama Canal's Neopanamax locks take a maximum draft of 15.2 m, so VLCCs and laden Suezmaxes cannot use it. Without Panama the voyage is 13,831 nm, 3,517 nm (about 12.2 days at 12 knots) longer.
Voyage estimates by ship size
About this trade
US Gulf crude exports. US shale crude out of Corpus Christi, Houston and the LOOP to Europe and Asia, often reverse-lightered onto VLCCs offshore.
- Typical ship sizes
- VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax
- Related benchmark routes
- TD22 (USG–China VLCC), TD25 (USG–UKC Aframax)
Questions
How far is Houston from Ningbo by sea?
The sea distance from Houston to Ningbo is about 10,314 nautical miles (19,102 km), via the Panama Canal.
How long does a tanker take to sail from Houston to Ningbo?
About 35 days 20 hours at 12 knots, or 30.7 days at 14 knots. That is steaming time only; add time for port calls, canal transits and weather.
Which canals and straits does the Houston–Ningbo route pass?
The shortest route passes the Panama Canal. Alternative routings are listed above for ships that cannot or will not use them.
How much of the voyage is inside an Emission Control Area?
About 1,097 nm, or 11% of the voyage, is inside an ECA, where ships must burn 0.10% sulphur fuel or use a scrubber.
Terms on this page
Distances are calculated by Vessbook on a modelled global shipping-lane network for a tanker at 12 m draft, from berth area to berth area.
More voyages from Houston
- Houston to Veracruz705 nm
- Houston to Puerto Cortes1,026 nm
- Houston to Kingston1,350 nm
- Houston to Balboa1,537 nm
- Houston to Callao2,937 nm
- Houston to Itaqui3,560 nm
- Houston to Le Havre4,840 nm
- Houston to Rotterdam5,013 nm
- Houston to Wilhelmshaven5,185 nm
- Houston to Fos-sur-Mer5,448 nm
- Houston to Rio de Janeiro5,453 nm
- Houston to Gdansk5,566 nm
More voyages to Ningbo
- Mina Al Fahal to Ningbo5,308 nm
- Fujairah to Ningbo5,413 nm
- Burnaby to Ningbo5,496 nm
- Vancouver to Ningbo5,496 nm
- Zirku Island to Ningbo5,666 nm
- Halul Island to Ningbo5,683 nm
- Das Island to Ningbo5,758 nm
- Jebel Dhanna to Ningbo5,758 nm
- Ju'aymah to Ningbo5,807 nm
- Ras Tanura to Ningbo5,807 nm
- Basrah Oil Terminal to Ningbo5,977 nm
- Mina Al Ahmadi to Ningbo5,985 nm