How long ocean freight actually takes

A quoted transit time is one number describing one segment. The calendar your customer cares about is much longer.

Where the days go

• Booking to gate in: two to five days, depending on how organised the shipper is.
• Gate in to loading: two to four days at origin.
• Sailing: the quoted number.
• Arrival to discharge: one to three days, more during congestion.
• Discharge to gate out: two to seven days, mostly customs and haulage bookings.

Roughly speaking, add ten to fourteen days to any port to port figure to get a realistic door to door.

Typical sailing times

Asia to North Europe runs around 30 to 40 days on a direct service. Asia to US West Coast, 15 to 25. Asia to US East Coast via Panama, 30 to 40. Intra-Mediterranean, 3 to 10. These move with schedule reliability, canal conditions and congestion, so treat them as a shape rather than a promise.

Where to put the buffer

People pad the ocean leg because that is the number in front of them. The ocean leg is actually the most predictable part: a vessel at sea keeps moving. The variable parts are the transshipment connection and the destination side, where congestion, customs selection and haulage availability all interact.

Put your buffer after arrival, not before departure, and watch the arrival estimate rather than the original quote.