Neptune Atlas
Shanghai to Piraeus by sea: 7,912 nautical miles
Shanghai to Piraeus by sea is 7,912 nautical miles (14,653 km) through the Suez Canal. Without the Suez Canal it is 14,234 nautical miles round the Cape of Good Hope, 6,322 longer. The route also passes the Strait of Malacca and Singapore and Bab el-Mandeb. The distance is the same in both directions, so this is also the distance from Piraeus to Shanghai. Ships on this route often carry containers.
| Route | Nautical miles | Days at sea at | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 knots | 12 knots | 14 knots | 16 knots | ||
| Through the Suez Canal | 7,912 | 33.0 | 27.5 | 23.5 | 20.6 |
| Round the Cape of Good Hope, without the Suez Canal | 14,234 | 59.3 | 49.4 | 42.4 | 37.1 |
Days are time under way at a steady speed. They leave out waiting, time in port and bad weather. The Suez Canal adds about 1.25 days for the transit and the wait.
Without the Suez Canal the voyage is 6,322 nm longer, which is 22.0 more days at sea at 12 knots. It is the dashed line on the map.
- Canals
- Suez Canal
- Canal time
- 1.25 days
- Inside emission areas
- 641 nm
- Straight line
- 4,617 nm
Emission control areas
641 nm of this route, 8 per cent, is inside an emission control area (ECA): Mediterranean Sea, 641 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
- Shanghai, China. UN/LOCODE CNSHA, at 31.23 N, 121.47 E.
- Piraeus, Greece. UN/LOCODE GRPIR, at 37.93 N, 23.62 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 Shanghai
- Shanghai to Rotterdam10,661 nm
- Shanghai to Singapore2,195 nm
- Shanghai to Sydney4,544 nm
- New Orleans to Shanghai9,984 nm
- Shanghai to Jebel Ali5,757 nm
- Shanghai to Los Angeles5,726 nm
- Shanghai to New York10,608 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.
- War risk areas: the listed areas and what a transit through one costs.