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CNSHA BEANR
Chemicals

Shanghai to Antwerp freight CO2 emissions

One tonne of cargo shipped Shanghai (CNSHA) to Antwerp (BEANR) by sea emits 148.5 kg CO2e well-to-wake at GLEC v3.2 default factors. The same tonne by air emits 5,532.8 kg — roughly 37x the sea number.

Lane noteAntwerp is the chemical-cluster gateway for Europe; the lane runs alongside Shanghai-Rotterdam on the same vessel rotations. Volume is roughly 60% of the Rotterdam call.

Per-tonne CO2e by mode

Sea freight

Container ship 8,000-15,000 TEU

148.5
kg CO2e
Distance
19,800 km
Factor (WTW)
7.5 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 19,800 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 container 8,000-15,000 TEU (Post-Panamax, WTW)

Rail freight

Mixed-traction intermodal rail

319.2
kg CO2e
Distance
11,400 km
Factor (WTW)
28 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 11,400 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 mixed-traction intermodal rail (WTW)

Air freight

Long-haul belly cargo

5,532.8
kg CO2e
Distance
9,100 km
Factor (WTW)
608 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 9,100 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 long-haul belly cargo allocation (WTW)

Mode comparison

On the Shanghai to Antwerp lane, air freight emits about 37 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 8,000-15,000 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 Shanghai to Antwerp?

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.