Navalyze · Market view
EU shipping emissions, 2019
Every ship over 5,000 GT calling at EU and EEA ports reports its fuel and emissions to THETIS-MRV. This view reads all 12,420 public reports for 2019. The technical view shows how ships perform; the commercial view puts a price on it through the EU Emissions Trading System.
The 2019 public files name ships but not the companies managing them, and shipping entered the EU ETS in 2024. This year is therefore compared ship by ship, without company or allowance figures.
The year at a glance
Emissions over time
All reporting years on one axis. The selected year is highlighted.
Show as table
| Year | Reports | Ships | CO₂ | Allowances due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 12,260 | 12,260 | 145.4 Mt | – |
| 2019 | 12,420 | 12,420 | 147.3 Mt | – |
| 2020 | 12,118 | 12,118 | 129.7 Mt | – |
| 2021 | 12,485 | 12,485 | 126.8 Mt | – |
| 2022 | 13,474 | 13,474 | 137.5 Mt | – |
| 2023 | 12,829 | 12,829 | 128.6 Mt | – |
| 2024 | 15,212 | 14,467 | 152.7 Mt | 36.3 Mt |
| 2025 | 18,946 | 17,871 | 157.7 Mt | 62.9 Mt |
Where the emissions sit
Container ships emit 30% of the total. Passenger segments weigh far more than their ship count suggests. Click a segment for its operators and detail.
- Container44.8 Mt
- Oil tanker20.1 Mt
- Bulk carrier17.3 Mt
- Ro-pax14.9 Mt
- Chemical tanker9.7 Mt
- LNG carrier8.0 Mt
- Passenger7.0 Mt
- General cargo6.7 Mt
- Ro-ro6.2 Mt
- Vehicle carrier4.8 Mt
- Gas carrier (LPG)3.0 Mt
- Reefer1.7 Mt
- Con-ro1.5 Mt
- Other1.2 Mt
- Combination113 kt
Show as table
| Segment | Reports | CO₂ | Share | Allowances due | Median speed | Fuel/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Container | 1,852 | 44.8 Mt | 30.4% | – | 13.7 kn | 54.4 t |
| Oil tanker | 2,007 | 20.1 Mt | 13.6% | – | 9.7 kn | 29.9 t |
| Bulk carrier | 3,675 | 17.3 Mt | 11.8% | – | 10.3 kn | 21.9 t |
| Ro-pax | 404 | 14.9 Mt | 10.1% | – | 15.8 kn | 61.6 t |
| Chemical tanker | 1,363 | 9.7 Mt | 6.6% | – | 10.1 kn | 20.5 t |
| LNG carrier | 257 | 8.0 Mt | 5.4% | – | 13.5 kn | 97.8 t |
| Passenger | 179 | 7.0 Mt | 4.8% | – | 12.9 kn | 87.4 t |
| General cargo | 1,247 | 6.7 Mt | 4.6% | – | 9.7 kn | 13.0 t |
| Ro-ro | 277 | 6.2 Mt | 4.2% | – | 14.8 kn | 37.5 t |
| Vehicle carrier | 435 | 4.8 Mt | 3.3% | – | 14.2 kn | 35.6 t |
| Gas carrier (LPG) | 343 | 3.0 Mt | 2.1% | – | 10.4 kn | 21.9 t |
| Reefer | 152 | 1.7 Mt | 1.2% | – | 15.2 kn | 31.4 t |
| Con-ro | 76 | 1.5 Mt | 1.0% | – | 15.6 kn | 48.0 t |
| Other | 142 | 1.2 Mt | 0.8% | – | 10.1 kn | 20.2 t |
| Combination | 11 | 113 kt | 0.1% | – | 8.0 kn | 19.7 t |
How wide the performance gap is
Spread of CO₂ per transport work within each segment, on each segment's own basis (cargo, pax, volume or dwt). The box holds the middle half of the fleet, the line runs from the best 10% to the worst 10%.
- Container18.9 g CO₂/t·nm
- Oil tanker8.83 g CO₂/t·nm
- Bulk carrier8.38 g CO₂/t·nm
- Ro-pax (pax)569 g CO₂/pax·nm
- Ro-pax (freight)223 g CO₂/t·nm freight
- Chemical tanker17.3 g CO₂/t·nm
- LNG carrier10.9 g CO₂/m³·nm
- Passenger589 g CO₂/pax·nm
- General cargo25 g CO₂/dwt·nm
- Ro-ro90.9 g CO₂/t·nm
- Vehicle carrier59 g CO₂/t·nm
- Gas carrier (LPG)45.9 g CO₂/t·nm
- Reefer62.6 g CO₂/t·nm
- Con-ro9.58 g CO₂/m³·nm
Much of this spread is ship size, not operation: bigger ships move a tonne of cargo for less fuel. The next chart separates the two for container ships.
Show as table
| Segment | Metric | Best 10% | Q1 | Median | Q3 | Worst 10% | Ships |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Container | g CO₂/t·nm | 7.86 | 12.02 | 18.88 | 34.51 | 55.28 | 1,788 |
| Oil tanker | g CO₂/t·nm | 4.60 | 6.26 | 8.83 | 13.67 | 24.95 | 1,919 |
| Bulk carrier | g CO₂/t·nm | 4.89 | 6.40 | 8.38 | 11.13 | 15.46 | 3,360 |
| Ro-pax (pax) | g CO₂/pax·nm | 25.39 | 148.91 | 569.03 | 1,037.21 | 1,693.83 | 394 |
| Ro-pax (freight) | g CO₂/t·nm freight | 30.96 | 88.50 | 222.56 | 595.37 | 1,225.41 | 394 |
| Chemical tanker | g CO₂/t·nm | 9.31 | 12.29 | 17.32 | 26.81 | 43.27 | 1,321 |
| LNG carrier | g CO₂/m³·nm | 6.45 | 8.59 | 10.87 | 14.34 | 22.37 | 248 |
| Passenger | g CO₂/pax·nm | 353.03 | 397.93 | 589.20 | 1,017.45 | 1,627.50 | 177 |
| General cargo | g CO₂/dwt·nm | 11.19 | 18.46 | 24.96 | 35.39 | 55.61 | 1,154 |
| Ro-ro | g CO₂/t·nm | 50.65 | 67.75 | 90.89 | 156.72 | 296.43 | 271 |
| Vehicle carrier | g CO₂/t·nm | 43.12 | 50.06 | 58.95 | 78.84 | 123.20 | 426 |
| Gas carrier (LPG) | g CO₂/t·nm | 14.44 | 25.55 | 45.85 | 88.47 | 134.26 | 331 |
| Reefer | g CO₂/t·nm | 34.48 | 47.70 | 62.58 | 86.69 | 123.91 | 147 |
| Con-ro | g CO₂/m³·nm | 5.67 | 7.50 | 9.58 | 25.95 | 71.17 | 67 |
Size explains most of the container gap
Container ships grouped by the average cargo they carried (derived from CO₂ per mile and per tonne-mile). Within a band the spread narrows sharply.
- <10k t50.6 g
- 10–30k t23.8 g
- 30–60k t15.8 g
- 60–100k t11.0 g
- >100k t7.2 g
Show as table
| Cargo band | Ships | Q1 | Median | Q3 | Speed | Fuel/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <10k t | 453 | 40.87 | 50.59 | 62.51 | 10.6 kn | 21.3 t |
| 10–30k t | 487 | 19.70 | 23.79 | 28.74 | 13.1 kn | 42.4 t |
| 30–60k t | 316 | 14.30 | 15.83 | 17.77 | 14.6 kn | 77.1 t |
| 60–100k t | 277 | 9.94 | 10.97 | 12.58 | 15.3 kn | 100.0 t |
| >100k t | 255 | 6.43 | 7.17 | 8.26 | 15.9 kn | 113.6 t |
Efficiency trend by segment
Median CO₂ per transport work of each segment, indexed to 2018 = 100. Lower is better.
- Container
- Oil tanker
- Bulk carrier
- Ro-pax
- LNG carrier
- General cargo
Show as table
| Year | Container | Oil tanker | Bulk carrier | Ro-pax | LNG carrier | General cargo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 20.22 | 8.86 | 8.50 | 728.92 | 10.92 | 24.89 |
| 2019 | 18.88 | 8.83 | 8.38 | 569.03 | 10.87 | 24.96 |
| 2020 | 17.58 | 9.03 | 8.24 | 750.91 | 10.71 | 24.50 |
| 2021 | 17.90 | 8.86 | 8.57 | 815.19 | 10.46 | 22.70 |
| 2022 | 19.13 | 8.51 | 8.71 | 626.32 | 10.38 | 21.57 |
| 2023 | 19.40 | 8.44 | 8.27 | 680.04 | 9.10 | 20.67 |
| 2024 | 17.52 | 8.06 | 8.09 | 546.68 | 7.39 | 19.25 |
| 2025 | 16.30 | 7.95 | 7.89 | 566.51 | 7.12 | 20.44 |
Note on 2025: from 2025 the EU MRV Regulation also covers general cargo ships of 400–5,000 GT and offshore ships from 400 GT. Small ships emit more CO₂ per tonne-mile, so to compare like with like the 2025 median for general cargo uses only the 1,199 of 2,706 ships that also reported in 2024, the last year of the old scope.
Fuel fingerprint: who burns LNG
Burning LNG lowers the CO₂ released per tonne of fuel. Ships whose ratio sits well below oil's 3.1 are counted here.
In 2019, 199 of them were LNG carriers and 3 container ships.
Who verifies the reports
Accredited verifiers check every MRV report before it is published. Their share of all CO₂ and of all ships, by brand. Pick a segment above to see it per ship type.
- DNV30.8% / 24.1%
- ABS18.6% / 17.3%
- Lloyd's Register11.5% / 12.0%
- RINA10.8% / 8.1%
- Verifavia7.4% / 8.1%
- ClassNK6.5% / 9.4%
- Bureau Veritas6.1% / 7.8%
- China Classification Society2.6% / 3.3%
- EMICERT1.7% / 3.1%
- Korean Register1.7% / 2.5%
- 9 others2.3% / 4.2%
How fuel is measured
Each ship's monitoring plan names one or more of the four MRV methods for measuring fuel and emissions.
Most common combinations
- A44%
- C21%
- B21%
- B + C9%
- A + B3%
- A + C2%
- A + B + C1%
- A + D0%
Share of 11,823 emission reports that name a method; a report can name several.
What we exclude, and why
- Benchmarks use 11,709 full-year reports. Part-year reports (0, usually a change of company) and ships reporting no fuel (338) count towards totals only.
- Each segment is measured by its own CO₂ per transport work: per passenger-mile for passenger ships, per cubic-metre-mile for LNG carriers and con-ros, per deadweight-mile for general cargo, per tonne-mile for the rest.
- The worst 1% per segment and implausibly low values (under half the best 1%) are trimmed as reporting errors.
- Distance, speed and cargo carried are derived from the published ratios; THETIS has no distance or deadweight column.
- Allowances: not applicable before 2024. Offshore ships are excluded until 2027. Euro figures use the EUA price you set, default €75/t.
- Source: EMSA THETIS-MRV public emission reports, mrv.emsa.europa.eu, checked weekly.