45 Days or 65? The Real Shrimp Transit Time From Vietnam to France

A freight forwarder quotes you 30 to 40 days for a container of Ca Mau shrimp to Le Havre. That figure covers the sea leg only, not the real calendar running from factory loading to warehouse availability. On this lane, the gap between the quote and the true transit time regularly reaches an extra 20 to 25 days, and that is precisely what blows up a cash flow plan built on the wrong date.

We source directly from factories in Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, and the timeline we track container by container almost never matches the one on the original quote. Here is why, line by line.

The quote says 30 days, the container often takes twice that

An FCL quote from Vietnam to France typically cites 30 to 40 days for a 20-foot container, at a rate between 4,800 and 5,200 euros depending on the carrier (Sino-Shipping data, August 2024 pricing). That figure refers to pure ocean transit, from the port of loading (Cat Lai in Ho Chi Minh City, or Haiphong) to the European port of discharge.

Platforms that calculate the full journey tell a different story. Freightos puts Ho Chi Minh City to Paris at 52 to 66 days for a 20-foot FCL, and 54 to 71 days for LCL groupage. The gap between the two sets of numbers is not a methodology error: it reflects everything the ocean quote leaves out.

Why is the gap between quote and reality so consistent?

The forwarder's quote answers one specific question (how many days at sea), not the question you actually care about (when the goods are available in the warehouse). Factory stuffing, pre-carriage to the port of loading, feedering to a transhipment hub, import customs clearance and road on-carriage all sit outside the quoted figure. On a Vietnam to France route, those steps easily add 15 to 25 days to the calendar.

What the quoted transit time never counts

The real journey starts before loading. The container leaves the factory for Cat Lai or Haiphong, with 1 to 3 days of pre-carriage depending on where the plant sits in the Mekong Delta. Then come stuffing, Vietnamese export customs, and often a transhipment in Singapore or Port Klang before the long haul to Europe.

On arrival, the container discharges at Le Havre, Antwerp or Rotterdam, never at Paris. Those are the only three ports that matter for a reefer container of frozen shrimp, and confusing this sea route with an air freight solution via a Paris airport remains the single costliest mistake buyers new to this lane report to us.

How much time does SIVEP control at Le Havre add?

Fishery products imported from non-EU countries systematically go through border sanitary control, the framework for which is set by the French Ministry of Agriculture. On a normal flow, with no documentary anomaly, that control adds 1 to 4 working days between discharge and release of the goods. An incomplete health certificate file, or a discrepancy with the EUR.1 certificate, can push that to a full week, which mechanically shifts the entire warehouse availability date. We break down exactly how that control works in our guide to SIVEP control at Le Havre.

Add road on-carriage to the final warehouse on top, often 1 to 2 days within France. The real door-to-door calendar therefore lands between 50 and 65 days, not the 30 to 40 days of the ocean quote.

FCL, LCL or air: which mode for which shrimp volume?

The choice of mode depends on volume, not just budget. Below half a container, LCL groupage is the only rational option despite a higher cost per cubic metre. Above that, a 20 or 40-foot reefer FCL is consistently cheaper per tonne.

Is air freight worth the cost for frozen shrimp?

Almost never. Air freight costs 15 to 20 times more per tonne than a reefer FCL, for a product whose value per kilo does not justify that gap, unless you are facing a critical stockout on a HORECA listing that has to be honoured within 10 days. The real trade-off is not sea versus air, it is FCL versus LCL based on your monthly volume, and we work through that calculation in our guide to FOB, CIF and DDP depending on the Incoterm you choose.

What the transit time gap really costs in cash flow and stock

A buyer who budgets for 35 days and receives the goods at 58 does not just lose patience. They finance stock that does not exist yet, sometimes pay a deposit before loading, and end up out of stock on the listing they promised their HORECA customer. Over a quarterly ordering cycle, an unplanned 20-day gap is close to an extra month of cash tied up.

How does Vietnamese Tet complicate the calendar?

Vietnamese Lunar New Year fell on 17 February 2026. Shrimp factories in Ca Mau and Bac Lieu closed for 10 to 15 days around that date, a production stoppage most quotes never mention. The congestion that follows at Cat Lai and Haiphong in the 3 weeks after reopening adds a few more days for orders placed in January or early February. Any order tied to a spring listing has to build in that window, or risk running out. Full disclosure: we source these containers ourselves out of Ca Mau, so this calendar comes from our own bills of lading, not from a forwarder's simulation.

"The transit time that matters is factory to warehouse, not the one printed on the bill of lading."

EMG Seafood, August 2026

Volumes imported into the EU from Southeast Asia are tracked month by month by EUMOFA, the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products, and by the FAO's GLOBEFISH service for global shrimp prices. Together, those two sources let you check whether a port congestion spike lines up with a seasonal volume peak rather than an isolated problem on your own order.

The real calendar to budget before signing your next contract

The verdict is simple: budget 55 to 60 days door to door for an FCL from Vietnam to Le Havre, Antwerp or Rotterdam, not the 30 to 40 days of the ocean leg alone. Always add a 10-day safety margin around Vietnamese Tet, and make sure your EUR.1 certificate is ready before loading so you do not take an extra SIVEP delay, a point we cover in our article on MOQ and the real timeline of a shrimp container.

For a steady monthly volume above half a container, FCL remains the benchmark to plan around. Below that, LCL still holds up despite a slightly longer calendar. Air freight belongs to critical stockouts only, never to routine planning.