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KRPUS HKHKG
Electronics

Busan to Hong Kong freight CO2 emissions

One tonne of cargo shipped Busan (KRPUS) to Hong Kong (HKHKG) by sea emits 15.8 kg CO2e well-to-wake at GLEC v3.2 default factors. The same tonne by air emits 1,742.5 kg — roughly 111x the sea number.

Lane noteShort intra-Asia lane — typically 3-day sailings. Busan acts as the main Korean transshipment hub; semiconductor and EV-battery cargo runs predominantly air freight rather than ocean.

Per-tonne CO2e by mode

Sea freight

Container ship 4,000-8,000 TEU

15.8
kg CO2e
Distance
2,100 km
Factor (WTW)
7.5 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 2,100 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 container 8,000-15,000 TEU (Post-Panamax, WTW)

Air freight

Short-haul belly cargo

1,742.5
kg CO2e
Distance
2,050 km
Factor (WTW)
850 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 2,050 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 short-haul belly cargo (WTW)

Mode comparison

On the Busan to Hong Kong lane, air freight emits about 111 times more CO2e per tonne than sea freight at GLEC v3.2 defaults. The gap is driven by the WTW factor difference between long-haul belly cargo (850 g CO2e/tkm) and a Container ship 4,000-8,000 TEU (7.5 g CO2e/tkm), partly offset by the shorter great-circle air routing.

Try this in the calculator

These numbers are GLEC v3.2 defaults at 1 tonne. Change weight, vessel class, or load factor in the calculator and see the per-mode CO2e update under ISO 14083:2023 data quality tiers.

Methodology references

Need primary-data emissions for Busan to Hong Kong?

The EcoFreight API ingests AIS, bunker delivery notes, and shipment manifests to return ISO 14083 Tier 3 primary-data numbers for the same lane. Free tier covers 1,000 calculations per month.