How do I add reefer (refrigerated container) emissions to my export shipment footprint?
Calculate the leg as if it were a dry container, then use a reefer-specific factor or apply a reefer uplift for the power the refrigeration unit draws. Add refrigerant leakage only if the carrier reports it, converted to CO2e with a stated GWP. Label any default uplift as an estimate.
Why a reefer emits more than a dry box
A reefer container has its own refrigeration unit, powered from the ship's generators at sea, from shore plugs at the terminal, and from a diesel genset on the truck or rail leg. That extra fuel is burnt for your cargo, so a refrigerated shipment carries more emissions per tonne-km than the same weight in a dry container. Frozen cargo at minus 18°C or below usually needs more power than chilled cargo at plus 2 to plus 8°C.
Three ways to get the reefer figure, best first
- Carrier data: ask the shipping line for a reefer emission figure for your booking or trade lane, and whether it is well-to-wake or tank-to-wake.
- Reefer factors: the Clean Cargo methodology, published through Smart Freight Centre, gives separate reefer and dry factors per TEU-km for trade lanes. Use the reefer one, and record whether the factor is tank-to-wake or well-to-wake.
- Default uplift: when nothing better exists, multiply the dry container result by a published temperature-controlled default from the GLEC Framework or Clean Cargo that fits your mode. Name its source and label the result an estimate.
Refrigerant leakage
Reefer units use HFC or HFO refrigerants such as R-134a. Leaks are a separate source in CO2e, because the gas is a greenhouse gas in its own right. Carriers rarely report leakage per shipment; include it only when they do, and state the GWP set, for example R-134a at 1,300 in IPCC AR5 or 1,430 in AR4. Do not invent a leak rate to fill the gap.
The legs to cover on land
- Factory or pack house to port: a refrigerated truck with a diesel reefer unit. If the transporter bills reefer diesel separately, convert it at 2.68 kg CO2 per litre; otherwise apply a temperature-controlled road uplift.
- Pre-cooling and terminal plug-in time: part of the hub emissions under ISO 14083; include it if the terminal or carrier gives a figure.
- Which legs sit in your Scope 3 depends on who pays for them under your Incoterm.
Worked example: 22 t of frozen shrimp, Nhava Sheva to Rotterdam (hypothetical uplift and leak)
- Sea leg as dry cargo: 22 t x 11,700 km = 2,57,400 tonne-km; x 0.0084 kg CO2e per tonne-km = 2,162.2 kg CO2e
- Hypothetical reefer uplift of 1.4 (replace with a carrier or Clean Cargo reefer figure): 2,162.2 x 1.4 = 3,027.1 kg CO2e
- Hypothetical carrier report of 0.2 kg R-134a leaked for the voyage: 0.2 x 1,300 (AR5) = 260 kg CO2e
- Sea leg total: 3,027.1 + 260 = 3,287.1 kg CO2e, about 3.3 t
The 0.0084 factor is the default container ship intensity per tonne-km, well-to-wheel, and 11,700 km is an approximate Suez routing. The 1.4 uplift and the leak are hypothetical, used only to show the arithmetic.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads freight records, and its logistics calculator works out the dry leg per tonne-km by mode, distance and weight. A carrier's own reefer factor can be entered for the leg and is used as given; add refrigerant leakage from the carrier's report separately.
- Sea freight emissions per container
- Cold chain refrigerant leaks and carbon
- Logistics emissions calculator
- Refrigerant top-up invoice to CO2e
Sources: GLEC Framework, logistics emissions accounting method, Clean Cargo methodology, reefer and dry container factors, Smart Freight Centre, ISO 14083:2023, Quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions arising from transport chain operations
Last reviewed 2026-10-17.