Port-to-port sea distance
Houston to Ulsan distance
The sea distance from Houston (United States) to Ulsan (South Korea) is about 9,879 nautical miles (18,295 km), via the Panama Canal. At 12 knots that is about 34 days 7 hours at sea.
Distance
9,879 nm
18,295 km
Sea days @ 12 kn
34.3
34 days 7 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 | 41.2 days | 82.3 days |
| 11 knots | 37.4 days | 74.8 days |
| 12 knots | 34.3 days | 68.6 days |
| 13 knots | 31.7 days | 63.3 days |
| 14 knots | 29.4 days | 58.8 days |
| 15 knots | 27.4 days | 54.9 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
14,313 nm+4,434 nm
49.7 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)
15,538 nm+5,660 nm
54.0 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 14,313 nm, 4,434 nm (about 15.4 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 Ulsan by sea?
The sea distance from Houston to Ulsan is about 9,879 nautical miles (18,295 km), via the Panama Canal.
How long does a tanker take to sail from Houston to Ulsan?
About 34 days 7 hours at 12 knots, or 29.4 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–Ulsan 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 Ulsan
- Burnaby to Ulsan5,014 nm
- Vancouver to Ulsan5,014 nm
- Jamnagar to Ulsan5,292 nm
- Sikka to Ulsan5,292 nm
- Mina Al Fahal to Ulsan5,790 nm
- Fujairah to Ulsan5,895 nm
- Zirku Island to Ulsan6,148 nm
- Halul Island to Ulsan6,165 nm
- Das Island to Ulsan6,241 nm
- Jebel Dhanna to Ulsan6,241 nm
- Ruwais to Ulsan6,241 nm
- Sitra to Ulsan6,283 nm