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NLRTM ITGOA
Automotive

Rotterdam to Genoa freight CO2 emissions

One tonne of cargo shipped Rotterdam (NLRTM) to Genoa (ITGOA) by sea emits 37.8 kg CO2e well-to-wake at GLEC v3.2 default factors. The same tonne by air emits 739.5 kg — roughly 20x the sea number.

Lane noteRhine-Alpine corridor — the EU Combined Transport network targets a modal shift to rail on this route. Road still dominates on volume but rail captures roughly 18% of containerised tonnage.

Per-tonne CO2e by mode

Sea freight

Container ship 2,000-4,000 TEU

37.8
kg CO2e
Distance
4,200 km
Factor (WTW)
9 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 4,200 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 container 3,000-5,100 TEU (Sub-Panamax, WTW)

Road freight

40t articulated truck, diesel

67
kg CO2e
Distance
1,080 km
Factor (WTW)
62 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 1,080 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 articulated heavy truck, diesel, 60% load factor (WTW)

Rail freight

Electric intermodal rail

21.6
kg CO2e
Distance
1,200 km
Factor (WTW)
18 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 1,200 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 European electrified intermodal rail (WTW)

Air freight

Short-haul belly cargo

739.5
kg CO2e
Distance
870 km
Factor (WTW)
850 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 870 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 short-haul belly cargo (WTW)

Mode comparison

On the Rotterdam to Genoa lane, air freight emits about 20 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 2,000-4,000 TEU (9 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 Rotterdam to Genoa?

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.