Same Trade Lane, Different Footprint: Carrier Emissions Intensity Differs by Up to 35% on Major Container Routes

VesselBot analysis of 83,817 voyages reveals operational pressures and significant carrier-level efficiency differences that fleet-wide averages do not capture.

ATHENS, GREECE, October 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — On the same trade, the choice of carrier can change a voyage’s Well-to-Wake (WtW) emissions intensity by as much as 35%, according to Decoding Maritime Emissions, Q3 2026: Stable Intensity, Diverging Voyage Performance, VesselBot’s latest quarterly report. Across the carriers compared on four major fronthaul trades, the gap between the most and least efficient ranged from 20% to 35%, while fleet-wide average intensity remained broadly stable at 235.1 g CO₂e/TEU-km (+0.5% year over year).

The report also shows why absolute emissions are a poor measure of efficiency. On the China/East Asia–Northern Europe trade, the carrier with the lowest emissions intensity, out of the three carriers examined, also recorded the highest average emissions per voyage, highlighting the importance of cargo volumes and vessel utilization when assessing environmental performance.

Based on an analysis of 83,817 voyages performed by 6,730 container-carrying vessels, the report examines how actual vessel operations, including sailing patterns, port stays, cargo utilization and vessel deployment, influence maritime emissions performance. The findings highlight the importance of looking beyond aggregate figures to understand the operational conditions shaping transportation efficiency.

Key findings from the report
• Stable intensity masks diverging performance. Total emissions fell 1.9% year over year to 55.5 mn tonnes CO₂e while transport work rose 1.2% to 712 bn TEU-km. Average WtW intensity stayed broadly stable at 235.1 g CO₂e/TEU-km (+0.5%). Tracked voyages fell 2.8%, and average voyage duration rose to 5.3 days, the highest of the first three quarters of 2026.
• Five of six vessel-size categories improved their intensity, while Feeders continued to move in the opposite direction. Year-over-year improvements ranged from 3.4% for Panamax to 12.9% for VLCS, but Feeder intensity rose 1.3% to 285.9 g CO₂e/TEU-km. With Feeders accounting for 65% of all voyages, the findings illustrate why a broadly stable fleet-wide average can conceal different performance trends across vessel categories.
• The gradual return to the Suez Canal has yet to materially shorten Asia–Europe voyages. The Suez Canal Authority reports 166 medium and large containerships transiting between July and September 2026, up from 16 a year earlier. Yet average durations on China/East Asia–Northern Europe (33.2 days) and China/East Asia–Mediterranean (29.7 days) remained close to Q3 2025 and Q2 2026 levels, as most voyages still used the Cape of Good Hope route.
• Port time increased across every vessel size, with some trade lanes experiencing substantially larger rises. Average port time per voyage rose 6.2% to 27.3% year over year across vessel categories, with VLCS recording the largest increase, to 2.9 days. On the Northern Europe–North America East Coast trade, port time jumped 52.1% to 2.1 days. Longer port stays can reduce emissions efficiency, because vessels keep consuming fuel without generating additional transport work.
• Higher emissions per voyage did not necessarily mean lower efficiency. On direct China/East Asia–Northern Europe voyages, Evergreen recorded the highest average emissions of the three carriers examined (14,273 tonnes CO₂e), yet achieved the lowest intensity, at 47.4 g CO₂e/TEU-km, about 17% below the trade average of 57.3. Its voyages carried 20,400 TEU on average at 96% utilization. Assessing efficiency requires looking at cargo volume and operating conditions, not absolute emissions alone.
• Utilization and vessel size drive efficiency. Voyages below 50 g CO₂e/TEU-km averaged 80% utilization, against 32% for those at or above 800 g. Of the 2,226 highest-intensity voyages, 2,012 (90%) were operated by Feeder and Panamax vessels. At the same time, NeoPanamax and VLCS made up just 7% of voyages but generated 43% of transport work.

Beyond emissions measurement: understanding what drives performance
VesselBot’s analysis combines AIS-based vessel tracking with vessel-specific digital twin models to estimate fuel consumption and Well-to-Wake emissions at voyage level. This approach enables the company to examine performance across vessels, carriers, routes and operational conditions, rather than relying exclusively on published emission factors or aggregate carrier data.

The findings also illustrate the distinction between benchmarking performance and estimating the emissions of a particular shipment. While industry, trade and carrier averages help identify trends, shipment-specific execution data and fuel-consumption modeling provide a more granular basis for understanding transportation performance and identifying opportunities to improve efficiency.

“An average emissions figure may tell us whether the overall market is improving or deteriorating, but it cannot explain what is happening on individual voyages,” said Constantine Komodromos, Founder and CEO of VesselBot. “In Q3, we observed relatively stable fleet-wide intensity alongside longer port stays and meaningful differences in carrier efficiency. By examining vessel deployment, actual sailing patterns, cargo utilization and time spent at sea and in port, we can identify what drives those outcomes. For shippers, that distinction matters because emissions data should do more than support reporting. It should provide the evidence needed to evaluate carriers, understand operational inefficiencies and make better transportation decisions.”

The full report, Decoding Maritime Emissions, Q3 2026: Stable Intensity, Diverging Voyage Performance, is available here.

VesselBot invites media inquiries and is available for interviews to discuss the report’s findings.

Maria Bena
VesselBot PC
+30 697 400 8287
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