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Vessbook

Port-to-port sea distance

Texas City to Ulsan distance

The sea distance from Texas City (United States) to Ulsan (South Korea) is about 9,848 nautical miles (18,238 km), via the Panama Canal. At 12 knots that is about 34 days 5 hours at sea.

Distance

9,848 nm

18,238 km

Sea days @ 12 kn

34.2

34 days 5 hours

ECA miles

1,066 nm

11% of the route

Canals & straits

1

Panama Canal

Sea days by speed

SpeedOne wayRound voyage
10 knots41.0 days82.1 days
11 knots37.3 days74.6 days
12 knots34.2 days68.4 days
13 knots31.6 days63.1 days
14 knots29.3 days58.6 days
15 knots27.4 days54.7 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

Shortest route

9,848 nm

34.2 days at 12 kn · Panama Canal · 1,066 nm in ECA

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Avoiding the Panama Canal

14,282 nm+4,434 nm

49.6 days at 12 kn · Strait of Gibraltar · Suez Canal · Bab-el-Mandeb · Malacca Strait · 3,881 nm in ECA

See it on the map

Via the Cape (avoiding both Suez and Panama)

15,507 nm+5,660 nm

53.8 days at 12 kn · Sunda Strait · 1,037 nm in ECA

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  • 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 14,282 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 Texas City from Ulsan by sea?

The sea distance from Texas City to Ulsan is about 9,848 nautical miles (18,238 km), via the Panama Canal.

How long does a tanker take to sail from Texas City to Ulsan?

About 34 days 5 hours at 12 knots, or 29.3 days at 14 knots. That is steaming time only; add time for port calls, canal transits and weather.

Which canals and straits does the Texas City–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 1,066 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.

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