Navalyze · Market view

EU shipping emissions, 2024

Every ship over 5,000 GT calling at EU and EEA ports reports its fuel and emissions to THETIS-MRV. This view reads all 15,212 public reports for 2024. The technical view shows how ships perform; the commercial view puts a price on it through the EU Emissions Trading System.

The year at a glance

CO₂ emitted

152.7 Mt

+18.7% on 2023

Ships reporting

14,467

15,212 reports, 1,027 part-year

Fuel burned

49.3 Mt

+18.9% on 2023

Distance sailed

328 million nm

Ships in the benchmark, derived from CO₂ per mile

Ships burning LNG

513

+10.6% on 2023

CO₂ at berth

5.0%

Share of all CO₂ emitted alongside in port

Emissions over time

All reporting years on one axis. The selected year is highlighted.

200 Mt150 Mt100 Mt50 Mt0 Mt

’182018’192019’202020’212021’222022’232023’242024’252025

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 36% of the total. Passenger segments weigh far more than their ship count suggests. Click a segment for its operators and detail.

Container55.0 Mt
Oil tanker19.1 Mt
Bulk carrier16.1 Mt
Ro-pax14.1 Mt
Chemical tanker9.1 Mt
LNG carrier8.7 Mt
Passenger6.9 Mt
General cargo5.7 Mt
Ro-ro5.6 Mt
Vehicle carrier4.5 Mt
Gas carrier (LPG)2.7 Mt
Other2.6 Mt
Con-ro1.2 Mt
Reefer921 kt
Cruise408 kt
Combination43 kt
Offshore21 kt

Show as table

Segment	Reports	CO₂	Share	Allowances due	Median speed	Fuel/day
Container	2,284	55.0 Mt	36.0%	12.4 Mt	13.5 kn	54.6 t
Oil tanker	2,171	19.1 Mt	12.5%	4.4 Mt	10.9 kn	32.8 t
Bulk carrier	4,859	16.1 Mt	10.5%	3.4 Mt	10.6 kn	21.3 t
Ro-pax	458	14.1 Mt	9.2%	3.9 Mt	15.7 kn	58.1 t
Chemical tanker	1,577	9.1 Mt	6.0%	2.3 Mt	11.0 kn	21.1 t
LNG carrier	376	8.7 Mt	5.7%	1.8 Mt	14.6 kn	70.7 t
Passenger	218	6.9 Mt	4.5%	2.2 Mt	13.3 kn	76.0 t
General cargo	1,442	5.7 Mt	3.7%	1.4 Mt	10.5 kn	15.0 t
Ro-ro	251	5.6 Mt	3.7%	1.6 Mt	14.5 kn	36.1 t
Vehicle carrier	494	4.5 Mt	2.9%	948 kt	14.4 kn	35.5 t
Gas carrier (LPG)	395	2.7 Mt	1.7%	614 kt	12.5 kn	23.6 t
Other	442	2.6 Mt	1.7%	600 kt	11.1 kn	19.9 t
Con-ro	71	1.2 Mt	0.8%	341 kt	14.4 kn	46.4 t
Reefer	139	921 kt	0.6%	190 kt	14.5 kn	28.7 t
Cruise	18	408 kt	0.3%	122 kt	12.4 kn	65.9 t
Combination	11	43 kt	0.0%	9,527 t	11.7 kn	27.9 t
Offshore	6	21 kt	0.0%	0 t	8.4 kn	7.6 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%.

How to read it. Take container ships: the median ship emits 17.5 g CO₂/t·nm. Half the fleet sits inside the box, between 0.6× and 1.8× of that. The best 10% are below 0.4×, the worst 10% above 2.9×. Left of the median is better. The longer the bar, the bigger the gap between the best and worst ships in that segment.

0.25×0.5×median2×4×Median

Container17.5 g CO₂/t·nm
Oil tanker8.06 g CO₂/t·nm
Bulk carrier8.09 g CO₂/t·nm
Ro-pax (pax)547 g CO₂/pax·nm
Ro-pax (freight)233 g CO₂/t·nm freight
Chemical tanker16.7 g CO₂/t·nm
LNG carrier7.39 g CO₂/m³·nm
Passenger618 g CO₂/pax·nm
General cargo19.3 g CO₂/dwt·nm
Ro-ro97.5 g CO₂/t·nm
Vehicle carrier55.3 g CO₂/t·nm
Gas carrier (LPG)35.8 g CO₂/t·nm
Con-ro9.36 g CO₂/m³·nm
Reefer58.7 g CO₂/t·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	7.33	10.68	17.52	31.21	51.62	1,974
Oil tanker	g CO₂/t·nm	4.44	5.87	8.06	12.46	25.70	1,787
Bulk carrier	g CO₂/t·nm	4.85	6.18	8.09	10.93	15.76	3,089
Ro-pax (pax)	g CO₂/pax·nm	58.42	128.61	546.68	1,044.37	1,957.32	404
Ro-pax (freight)	g CO₂/t·nm freight	30.83	92.09	232.85	602.93	1,069.25	404
Chemical tanker	g CO₂/t·nm	8.47	11.04	16.73	28.13	41.97	1,274
LNG carrier	g CO₂/m³·nm	4.54	5.55	7.39	10.55	17.34	312
Passenger	g CO₂/pax·nm	318.58	379.73	618.41	1,107.21	1,842.10	202
General cargo	g CO₂/dwt·nm	7.51	10.75	19.25	26.91	39.26	1,111
Ro-ro	g CO₂/t·nm	50.69	71.70	97.53	172.86	309.34	220
Vehicle carrier	g CO₂/t·nm	37.69	43.87	55.31	78.34	158.40	335
Gas carrier (LPG)	g CO₂/t·nm	15.04	20.21	35.82	75.38	115.00	306
Con-ro	g CO₂/m³·nm	5.45	7.12	9.36	12.31	45.93	64
Reefer	g CO₂/t·nm	36.54	46.00	58.69	77.50	120.55	108

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 t47.2 g
10–30k t21.8 g
30–60k t14.5 g
60–100k t10.7 g
>100k t7.1 g

Show as table

Cargo band	Ships	Q1	Median	Q3	Speed	Fuel/day
<10k t	503	37.40	47.21	59.12	11.4 kn	22.3 t
10–30k t	520	18.85	21.80	25.86	12.7 kn	40.7 t
30–60k t	304	12.78	14.50	16.16	14.2 kn	67.7 t
60–100k t	328	9.18	10.71	12.15	14.8 kn	92.1 t
>100k t	319	6.21	7.08	7.95	15.3 kn	111.6 t

Efficiency trend by segment

Median CO₂ per transport work of each segment, indexed to 2018 = 100. Lower is better. CO₂eq is reported only from 2024, so the trend stays on CO₂.

Container
Oil tanker
Bulk carrier
Ro-pax
LNG carrier
General cargo

6080100120

’182018’192019’202020’212021’222022’232023’242024’252025

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.

1,0007505002500

’182018’192019’202020’212021’222022’232023’242024’252025

In 2024, 284 of them were LNG carriers and 65 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.

Share of CO₂Share of ships

DNV38.9% / 30.5%
ABS19.7% / 14.8%
RINA9.1% / 6.8%
ClassNK8.3% / 11.0%
Lloyd's Register5.5% / 8.8%
Bureau Veritas4.7% / 6.9%
Verifavia4.3% / 6.7%
China Classification Society2.7% / 4.4%
Korean Register2.0% / 2.4%
EMICERT1.6% / 2.7%
11 others3.3% / 7.6%

Compare the five largest verifiers and their clients →

How fuel is measured

Each ship's monitoring plan names one or more of the four MRV methods for measuring fuel and emissions.

A · Bunker delivery notes

56%

Fuel bought, corrected by tank soundings

B · Bunker tank monitoring

34%

Tank readings on board

C · Flow meters

35%

Meters on the fuel lines to engines and boilers

D · Direct measurement

CO₂ measured in the exhaust

Most common combinations

A47%
B16%
C14%
B + C14%
A + C4%
A + B + C2%
A + B2%

Share of 14,650 emission reports that name a method; a report can name several.

What we exclude, and why

Benchmarks use 11,406 full-year reports. Part-year reports (1,027, usually a change of company) and ships reporting no fuel (1,299) 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: 40% of the CO₂ in ETS scope for 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.