Neptune Atlas
Rotterdam to Istanbul by sea: 3,332 nautical miles
Rotterdam to Istanbul by sea is 3,332 nautical miles (6,171 km) by way of the Strait of Dover and the Strait of Gibraltar. The distance is the same in both directions, so this is also the distance from Istanbul to Rotterdam.
| Route | Nautical miles | Days at sea at | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 knots | 12 knots | 14 knots | 16 knots | ||
| Sea route | 3,332 | 13.9 | 11.6 | 9.9 | 8.7 |
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
- 2,385 nm
- Straight line
- 1,197 nm
Emission control areas
2,385 nm of this route, 72 per cent, is inside an emission control area (ECA): North Sea and English Channel, 475 nm and Mediterranean Sea, 1,910 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.
- Istanbul, Turkey. UN/LOCODE TRIST, at 41.01 N, 28.98 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 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
- Colombo to Rotterdam6,851 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.