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USLAX CAVAN
Transshipment cargo

Los Angeles to Vancouver freight CO2 emissions

One tonne of cargo shipped Los Angeles (USLAX) to Vancouver (CAVAN) by sea emits 16.1 kg CO2e well-to-wake at GLEC v3.2 default factors. The same tonne by air emits 1,479 kg — roughly 92x the sea number.

Lane noteShort-sea Pacific coast feeder — 3-4 day sailings hugging the North American west coast. Road and rail are real competitors at ~2,300 km; CN and BNSF intermodal services capture significant tonnage between the two port complexes.

Per-tonne CO2e by mode

Sea freight

Container ship 3,000-8,000 TEU

16.1
kg CO2e
Distance
2,150 km
Factor (WTW)
7.5 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 2,150 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 container 8,000-15,000 TEU (Post-Panamax, WTW)

Road freight

40t articulated truck, diesel

141.4
kg CO2e
Distance
2,280 km
Factor (WTW)
62 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 2,280 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 articulated heavy truck, diesel, 60% load factor (WTW)

Rail freight

Mixed-traction intermodal rail

67.2
kg CO2e
Distance
2,400 km
Factor (WTW)
28 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 2,400 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 mixed-traction intermodal rail (WTW)

Air freight

Short-haul belly cargo

1,479
kg CO2e
Distance
1,740 km
Factor (WTW)
850 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 1,740 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 short-haul belly cargo (WTW)

Mode comparison

On the Los Angeles to Vancouver lane, air freight emits about 92 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.

Where rail is viable on this lane, it sits between sea and road — see the per-mode card above for the exact split.

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 Los Angeles to Vancouver?

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.