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ZADUR NLRTM
Citrus

Durban to Rotterdam freight CO2 emissions

One tonne of cargo shipped Durban (ZADUR) to Rotterdam (NLRTM) by sea emits 103.5 kg CO2e well-to-wake at GLEC v3.2 default factors. The same tonne by air emits 5,958.4 kg — roughly 58x the sea number.

Lane noteDurban is the largest African container port. Citrus season (June-October) pushes reefer volume to 40% of containerised exports; the lane runs around the West African coast and saves no distance via Suez.

Per-tonne CO2e by mode

Sea freight

Container ship 5,000-10,000 TEU + bulk carriers

103.5
kg CO2e
Distance
13,800 km
Factor (WTW)
7.5 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 13,800 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 container 8,000-15,000 TEU (Post-Panamax, WTW)

Air freight

Long-haul belly cargo

5,958.4
kg CO2e
Distance
9,800 km
Factor (WTW)
608 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 9,800 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 long-haul belly cargo allocation (WTW)

Mode comparison

On the Durban to Rotterdam lane, air freight emits about 58 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 (608 g CO2e/tkm) and a Container ship 5,000-10,000 TEU + bulk carriers (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 Durban to Rotterdam?

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.