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NLRTM ARBUE
Machinery

Rotterdam to Buenos Aires freight CO2 emissions

One tonne of cargo shipped Rotterdam (NLRTM) to Buenos Aires (ARBUE) by sea emits 90.8 kg CO2e well-to-wake at GLEC v3.2 default factors. The same tonne by air emits 6,931.2 kg — roughly 76x the sea number.

Lane noteNorthern Europe to River Plate — deep-water trans-equatorial Atlantic with typical Montevideo or Rio Grande stop en route. 16-18 day sailings; Buenos Aires River Plate access is depth-constrained, capping vessel size on this lane.

Per-tonne CO2e by mode

Sea freight

Container ship 3,000-8,000 TEU

90.8
kg CO2e
Distance
12,100 km
Factor (WTW)
7.5 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 12,100 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 container 8,000-15,000 TEU (Post-Panamax, WTW)

Air freight

Long-haul belly cargo

6,931.2
kg CO2e
Distance
11,400 km
Factor (WTW)
608 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 11,400 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 long-haul belly cargo allocation (WTW)

Mode comparison

On the Rotterdam to Buenos Aires lane, air freight emits about 76 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 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

Need primary-data emissions for Rotterdam to Buenos Aires?

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.