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NLRTM USNYC
Specialty chemicals

Rotterdam to New York freight CO2 emissions

One tonne of cargo shipped Rotterdam (NLRTM) to New York (USNYC) by sea emits 46.5 kg CO2e well-to-wake at GLEC v3.2 default factors. The same tonne by air emits 3,562.9 kg — roughly 77x the sea number.

Lane noteMature mid-sized lane — typically 7-8 day sailings at 18-19 knots. Vessel sizes are smaller than Asia-Europe (Post-Panamax dominate) because trans-Atlantic volumes do not justify the largest classes.

Per-tonne CO2e by mode

Sea freight

Container ship 5,000-10,000 TEU

46.5
kg CO2e
Distance
6,200 km
Factor (WTW)
7.5 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 6,200 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 container 8,000-15,000 TEU (Post-Panamax, WTW)

Air freight

Long-haul belly cargo

3,562.9
kg CO2e
Distance
5,860 km
Factor (WTW)
608 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 5,860 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 long-haul belly cargo allocation (WTW)

Mode comparison

On the Rotterdam to New York lane, air freight emits about 77 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 (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 New York?

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.