Neptune Atlas
Rotterdam to Gdansk by sea: 671 nautical miles
Rotterdam to Gdansk by sea is 671 nautical miles (1,243 km) through the Kiel Canal. Without the Kiel Canal it is 867 nautical miles round the north of Denmark, 196 longer. The distance is the same in both directions, so this is also the distance from Gdansk to Rotterdam.
| Route | Nautical miles | Days at sea at | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 knots | 12 knots | 14 knots | 16 knots | ||
| Through the Kiel Canal | 671 | 2.8 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.7 |
| Round the north of Denmark, without the Kiel Canal | 867 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 2.6 | 2.3 |
Days are time under way at a steady speed. They leave out waiting, time in port and bad weather. The Kiel Canal adds about 0.5 days for the transit and the wait.
Without the Kiel Canal the voyage is 196 nm longer, which is 0.7 more days at sea at 12 knots. It is the dashed line on the map.
- Canals
- Kiel Canal
- Canal time
- 0.5 days
- Inside emission areas
- 599 nm
- Straight line
- 529 nm
Emission control areas
599 nm of this route, 89 per cent, is inside an emission control area (ECA): Baltic Sea, 387 nm and North Sea and English Channel, 211 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
- Rotterdam, Netherlands. UN/LOCODE NLRTM, at 51.92 N, 4.50 E.
- Gdansk, Poland. UN/LOCODE PLGDN, at 54.35 N, 18.65 E.
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 Rotterdam
- Rotterdam to Istanbul3,332 nm
- Rotterdam to Lagos4,248 nm
- Rotterdam to New York3,408 nm
- Santos to Rotterdam5,503 nm
- Shanghai to Rotterdam10,661 nm
- Singapore to Rotterdam8,398 nm
- Vitoria to Rotterdam5,066 nm
- Buenos Aires to Rotterdam6,435 nm
Guides that go with this route
- Emission control areas: where they are and what fuel a ship must burn inside them.
- Bunkers and fuel grades: what a ship burns on a passage like this one.
- Laytime and demurrage: the time allowed in port once the ship arrives.