Shipping from Japan to the UK-Time

How long does shipping from Japan to the UK take?

What is the average shipping/delivery time from Japan to the UK? How long does shipping/delivery take from Japan to the UK by sea using the services of an international freight shipper or a moving company to ship my goods?

If you are shipping to the UK from Japan by surface, consolidation shipping services are available to the port of Southampton. Average port-to-port shipping times (the time it will take from the ship's departure from the port of origin to the time the ship arrives at the destination port) from a major port in Japan such as Tokyo or Yokohama to Southampton, UK is 38 to 40 days.

For example, if there is a container vessel leaving Tokyo port on April 1, ETA Southampton is May 7.

To have more accurate idea of how long shipping/delivery from Japan to the UK will take, the following points should be taken into consideration.

• Cargo shipped in consolidations, i.e. Less-than-Container Load shipments, must be loaded into containers about one week before the actual sailing date of a ship.
• Shipments must be cleared customs at least few days before they are loaded into containers for consolidation.
• Frequency of ship’s departure is one in every week.
• After the ship arrives at the destination, it will take at least several days for the containers to be unloaded from the ship, the containers delivered to bonded warehouses and then shipments are unloaded from containers.

Shipping route from Japan to the UK

When shipments are transported by ocean from Japan to the UK, the route may be via Singapore, which is a major hub port. LCL Shipments are sometimes transshipped at Singapore port or the entire consolidation container may make it onto a connecting vessels at Singapore. When container ships travel from Japan to Europe they make port calls at a number of ports en route to Europe and they also go via Suez Canal. Container ships also make port calls at other European ports as Rotterdam, Hamburg etc. before arriving at Southampton, UK.

Therefor it will be best to add about two to three weeks to the actual sailing time to calculate how long delivery from Japan to the U.K. will take.