# How do I add reefer (refrigerated container) emissions to my export shipment footprint?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/reefer-container-emissions-food-exporters

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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](https://senseible.earth/answers/sea-freight-emissions-per-container-india-to-europe)
- [Cold chain refrigerant leaks and carbon](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/msme-cold-chain-refrigerant-leak-carbon-2026)
- [Logistics emissions calculator](https://senseible.earth/calculators/logistics-emissions)
- [Refrigerant top-up invoice to CO2e](https://senseible.earth/answers/refrigerant-top-up-invoice-to-co2e)

Sources: [GLEC Framework, logistics emissions accounting method](https://www.smartfreightcentre.org/en/our-programs/emissions-accounting/global-logistics-emissions-council/), [Clean Cargo methodology, reefer and dry container factors, Smart Freight Centre](https://www.smartfreightcentre.org), [ISO 14083:2023, Quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions arising from transport chain operations](https://www.iso.org)

Last reviewed 2026-10-17.