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CNSHA DEHAM
Automotive parts

Shanghai to Hamburg freight CO2 emissions

One tonne of cargo shipped Shanghai (CNSHA) to Hamburg (DEHAM) by sea emits 80.4 kg CO2e well-to-wake at GLEC v3.2 default factors. The same tonne by air emits 5,350.4 kg — roughly 67x the sea number.

Lane noteHamburg is the main North-European hub for German industry inbound. Same Suez/Cape detour applies; the rail option via the China-Europe land bridge is a real but capacity-constrained alternative — about 18 days end-to-end vs 30+ at sea.

Per-tonne CO2e by mode

Sea freight

Container ship 10,000-18,000 TEU

80.4
kg CO2e
Distance
20,100 km
Factor (WTW)
4 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 20,100 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 container 15,000-24,000 TEU (ULCV, WTW)

Rail freight

Mixed-traction intermodal rail

330.4
kg CO2e
Distance
11,800 km
Factor (WTW)
28 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 11,800 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 mixed-traction intermodal rail (WTW)

Air freight

Long-haul belly cargo

5,350.4
kg CO2e
Distance
8,800 km
Factor (WTW)
608 g CO2e/tkm
Per shipment
1 t × 8,800 km
Factor source
GLEC v3.2 long-haul belly cargo allocation (WTW)

Mode comparison

On the Shanghai to Hamburg lane, air freight emits about 67 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 10,000-18,000 TEU (4 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 Hamburg?

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.