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Karachi to Jebel Ali freight CO2 emissions
One tonne of cargo shipped Karachi (PKKHI) to Jebel Ali (AEJEA) by sea emits 11.3 kg CO2e well-to-wake at GLEC v3.2 default factors. The same tonne by air emits 1,011.5 kg — roughly 90x the sea number.
Lane noteShort Arabian Sea hop — 3-4 day sailings between Karachi Port Trust/Port Qasim and the Jebel Ali transshipment hub. Pakistani textile and rice exports flow predominantly for onward Jebel Ali relay to Europe and East Africa.
Per-tonne CO2e by mode
Sea freight
Container ship 3,000-8,000 TEU
- Distance
- 1,500 km
- Factor (WTW)
- 7.5 g CO2e/tkm
- Per shipment
- 1 t × 1,500 km
- Factor source
- GLEC v3.2 container 8,000-15,000 TEU (Post-Panamax, WTW)
Air freight
Short-haul belly cargo
- Distance
- 1,190 km
- Factor (WTW)
- 850 g CO2e/tkm
- Per shipment
- 1 t × 1,190 km
- Factor source
- GLEC v3.2 short-haul belly cargo (WTW)
Mode comparison
On the Karachi to Jebel Ali lane, air freight emits about 90 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 3,000-8,000 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
- Methodology — GLEC v3.2 emission factors and ISO 14083 data quality tiers
- GLEC v3.2 in practice — three worked emission calculations
- Per-class container ship CO2 factors by TEU range
- What changed in GLEC v3.2 vs v3.0 and v3.1
- Glossary — WTW vs TTW vs WTT, ISO 14083 data quality tier definitions
- The 2026 State of Freight Emissions Report
- All trade-lane CO2 pages