Ocean Freight Transit Time Estimator

Pick an origin and a destination port and the estimator pulls live carrier sailing schedules for that pair, then shows the spread of transit days across the carriers and services actually sailing it, plus the next few departures. Transit times are typical and schedule-dependent — never guaranteed.

Start typing a port name and pick it from the list — the schedule feed matches on its own port records, so a selected port is what lets us query it.

The typical door-to-door timeline

The estimator measures the ocean leg only. These are the stages around it. We put a range only on the stage a source supports — the others are described rather than given an invented day count, because they depend on your shipper, your entry and your delivery point.

  1. 1

    Origin pickup and drayage quoted per shipment

    Collection from the shipper and the run to the load port or CFS. Driven by distance inland, equipment availability and the terminal appointment, so it is quoted per shipment rather than assumed. Book it against the carrier cut-off, not the sailing date.

  2. 2

    Export clearance and cut-off quoted per shipment

    Export declaration, documentation and the VGM and gate cut-offs that sit ahead of the sailing. Cut-offs typically fall several days before ETD and vary by carrier and terminal — missing one rolls the container to the next sailing, which is the single most common cause of a lane running long.

  3. 3

    Ocean transit (port to port) pick a port pair above

    The sailing itself, ETD at the load port to ETA at the discharge port. This is the only stage with a number on this page, and it is typical and schedule-dependent: it moves with the service string, how many transshipments the routing carries, and congestion at either end.

  4. 4

    US import clearance and release quoted per shipment

    ISF filing ahead of loading, then entry and release once the vessel arrives. A clean entry filed in advance often clears around arrival; an exam, a PGA hold or a classification query adds time that no schedule can predict. Airlift coordinates clearance through our licensed broker network.

  5. 5

    Terminal release and final delivery quoted per shipment

    Availability at the terminal, chassis and appointment, then the drayage or line-haul to the consignee. Free time at the terminal is finite, so plan the delivery appointment before the vessel berths rather than after.

How this estimator works

When you choose a port pair, the tool queries the same carrier sailing-schedule feed that powers the Airlift vessel schedule search, asking for departures over the next four weeks. Every number it then shows — shortest, typical and longest transit — is computed from those returned sailings and nothing else. If a carrier reports the transit length itself we use that; if it reports only an ETD and an ETA we count the days between them.

A spread rather than a single number is the honest answer. On a busy lane the fastest service and the slowest can differ by two weeks, because one runs direct and the other transships through a hub. That is why the tool shows the range across services alongside how many of the returned sailings are direct, rather than averaging them into one figure that describes no real sailing.

Where the schedule feed returns nothing for a pair — an off-peak lane, a port the feed does not cover, or a temporary outage — the tool falls back to the transit ranges Airlift already publishes on its lane guides, which are P10 to P90 bands drawn from our own shipment history. The page always says which of the two produced the number on screen. If neither covers your pair, it says that too rather than estimating.

What actually moves ocean transit time

Routing is the biggest single factor. A direct service sails port to port; a transshipment routing discharges your container at a hub and waits for a connecting vessel, which typically adds a week or more and adds a point of failure if the connection is missed. The estimator reports the transshipment count the carrier declares on each sailing.

Service string and rotation matter next. Two carriers can quote the same lane while calling at quite different port sequences, and a string with four intermediate calls before yours will always be slower than one that runs straight across. Season matters too: pre-Lunar New Year and the pre-holiday peak both compress schedules and lengthen queues.

Then there is everything the schedule cannot see — congestion at either terminal, blank sailings, weather routing, canal transit restrictions. Carrier schedule reliability across the industry has run well short of full in recent years, which is exactly why we show a range and call it schedule-dependent rather than printing a date.

From port-to-port to door-to-door

The number this tool produces is the ocean leg only: ETD at the load port to ETA at the discharge port. A door-to-door plan needs four more stages around it — origin pickup and drayage, export clearance and cut-offs, US import clearance and release, and final delivery. The timeline below sets out each of them.

We deliberately do not put a day count on those stages. Origin drayage depends on how far inland the shipper sits and whether equipment is available; clearance depends on your entry, your classification and whether CBP or a partner government agency wants a closer look. Publishing an invented range for those would make a plan look more precise than it is. Ask us and we will quote them for your actual shipment.

One planning habit is worth more than any estimate: work backwards from the carrier cut-off, not the sailing date. Documentation, VGM and gate cut-offs fall days ahead of ETD, and a container that misses one waits for the next sailing — which on a weekly service costs a week before the ocean leg has even started.

Published Airlift lane transit ranges

103 port pairs across 14 lanes, as published on the Airlift shipping-route guides. Transit times reflect operational performance ranges, not guaranteed durations. Source: Airlift lane pages, reviewed 2026-09-04.

Bangladesh to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
ChittagongBaltimore 46–55 days
ChittagongLong Beach 48–58 days
ChittagongLos Angeles 47–57 days
ChittagongNew York 45–54 days

Belgium to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
AntwerpHouston 20–28 days
AntwerpNew York 12–18 days
AntwerpNorfolk 14–20 days

Brazil to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
PecémBaltimore 23–31 days
PecémHouston 18–25 days
PecémLos Angeles 28–38 days
Rio de JaneiroBaltimore 25–35 days
Rio de JaneiroHouston 20–28 days
Rio de JaneiroLos Angeles 30–42 days
Rio de JaneiroNew York 22–30 days

Cambodia to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
Phnom PenhColumbus 36–45 days
Phnom PenhLong Beach 34–41 days
Phnom PenhLos Angeles 33–40 days
Phnom PenhNew York 38–48 days
SihanoukvilleColumbus 38–47 days
SihanoukvilleLong Beach 36–43 days
SihanoukvilleLos Angeles 35–42 days

China to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
NingboHouston 29–40 days
NingboLong Beach 19–32 days
NingboLos Angeles 17–30 days
NingboNew York 35–47 days
ShanghaiHouston 28–38 days
ShanghaiLong Beach 18–31 days
ShanghaiLos Angeles 16–30 days
ShanghaiNew York 32–45 days
ShanghaiOakland 20–35 days
ShenzhenHouston 30–42 days
ShenzhenLong Beach 19–33 days
ShenzhenLos Angeles 18–32 days
ShenzhenNew York 35–48 days

India to Canada

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
ChennaiMontreal 34–44 days
ChennaiVancouver 37–50 days
MundraMontreal 32–40 days
MundraVancouver 36–48 days
Nhava ShevaMontreal 30–38 days
Nhava ShevaToronto (via Montreal rail) 38–50 days
Nhava ShevaVancouver 35–45 days

India to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
ChennaiLong Beach 32–38 days
ChennaiLos Angeles 36–50 days
ChennaiNew York 31–48 days
ChennaiNorfolk 36–54 days
ChennaiOakland 41–60 days
MundraLong Beach 34–41 days
MundraLos Angeles 35–50 days
MundraNew York 33–51 days
MundraNorfolk 35–52 days
MundraOakland 40–55 days
Nhava ShevaLong Beach 32–38 days
Nhava ShevaLos Angeles 36–50 days
Nhava ShevaNew York 32–49 days
Nhava ShevaNorfolk 36–48 days
Nhava ShevaOakland 41–54 days

Indonesia to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
JakartaHouston 35–43 days
JakartaLong Beach 31–37 days
JakartaLos Angeles 30–36 days
JakartaNew York 38–48 days
SurabayaHouston 36–44 days
SurabayaLos Angeles 32–38 days
SurabayaNew York 40–50 days

Italy to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
GenoaHouston 20–30 days
GenoaNew York 14–21 days
GenoaNorfolk 15–22 days
LivornoHouston 22–33 days
LivornoNew York 15–24 days

Thailand to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
BangkokLos Angeles 30–37 days
BangkokNew York 37–48 days
Laem ChabangHouston 33–41 days
Laem ChabangLong Beach 29–35 days
Laem ChabangLos Angeles 28–34 days
Laem ChabangNew York 36–45 days

USA to China

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
HoustonNingbo 32–42 days
HoustonShanghai 30–40 days
HoustonShenzhen 35–45 days
Los AngelesNingbo 18–27 days
Los AngelesShanghai 16–25 days
Los AngelesShenzhen 20–30 days
New YorkNingbo 36–48 days
New YorkShanghai 35–45 days

USA to India

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
HoustonChennai 34–50 days
HoustonMundra 33–48 days
HoustonNhava Sheva 32–45 days
Los AngelesMundra 38–50 days
Los AngelesNhava Sheva 36–48 days
New YorkChennai 32–40 days
New YorkMundra 30–38 days
New YorkNhava Sheva 28–36 days

USA to Vietnam

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
HoustonHai Phong 35–42 days
HoustonHo Chi Minh 32–40 days
Los AngelesHai Phong 30–36 days
Los AngelesHo Chi Minh 28–34 days
New YorkHai Phong 37–48 days
New YorkHo Chi Minh 35–45 days

Vietnam to USA

Origin portDestination portTypical transit (P10–P90)
Hai PhongHouston 34–42 days
Hai PhongLos Angeles 30–36 days
Hai PhongNew York 36–46 days
Ho Chi MinhHouston 32–40 days
Ho Chi MinhLong Beach 28–35 days
Ho Chi MinhLos Angeles 28–34 days
Ho Chi MinhNew York 35–45 days

Other free Airlift tools

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Ocean transit time FAQs

The range comes from live carrier sailing schedules for the port pair you picked — real services with real ETDs and ETAs — so it reflects what carriers are currently publishing rather than a rule of thumb. It is still an estimate: schedules slip with congestion, blank sailings and weather, so treat the figure as typical and schedule-dependent, never guaranteed.

Live transit ranges are computed from carrier-published sailing schedules returned by the Airlift vessel schedule feed at the time of your search. Fallback ranges are the P10–P90 bands published on the Airlift shipping-route lane guides, drawn from Airlift shipment history — Airlift lane pages, reviewed 2026-09-04. Port names and codes come from the UNECE UN/LOCODE Code List, edition 2024-2. Transit times are typical and schedule-dependent, and are never guaranteed.

Get a routing and a rate for your lane

Send us the port pair and the window you need to hit and we will confirm what is sailing, quote the ocean freight and the door legs, and flag the cut-offs that matter. Airlift USA is a licensed NVOCC with direct carrier contracts on the major US trade lanes; customs clearance is coordinated through our licensed broker network.

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