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Busan to Los Angeles by sea: 5,270 nautical miles

Busan to Los Angeles by sea is 5,270 nautical miles (9,760 km), with no canal on the way. The distance is the same in both directions, so this is also the distance from Los Angeles to Busan. Ships on this route often carry containers.

RouteNautical milesDays at sea at
10 knots12 knots14 knots16 knots
Sea route5,27022.018.315.713.7

Days are time under way at a steady speed. They leave out waiting, time in port and bad weather.

Canals
None
Canal time
None
Inside emission areas
487 nm
Straight line
5,195 nm
BusanLos Angeles
Busan to Los Angeles, as the Neptune Atlas sea router draws it.

Emission control areas

487 nm of this route, 9 per cent, is inside an emission control area (ECA): North American ECA, Pacific, 487 nm. An ECA is a sea area where a ship must burn fuel with no more than 0.10 per cent sulphur, or clean its exhaust. Either costs more than sailing on ordinary fuel.

The two ports

  • Busan, South Korea. UN/LOCODE KRPUS, at 35.13 N, 129.05 E.
  • Los Angeles, United States. UN/LOCODE USLAX, at 34.05 N, 118.24 W.

A UN/LOCODE is the United Nations code for a port. The straight line above is the great circle, the shortest line over the globe, which crosses land.

How this was worked out

Computed on 13 October 2026 by the sea router behind the Neptune Atlas voyage estimator. It searches a grid of navigable water built from public sea depth data, so the track goes round headlands and through straits. No draft limit was set and no area was avoided. Distance tables differ by a few per cent, because each one picks its own point for a port and its own track through straits. Use it for planning, not in place of a chart.

Open this route in the free calculator Change the speed, set a sea margin or close a canal. No account is needed.

Related routes

Other routes at Los Angeles

All 61 port to port distances

Guides that go with this route