Vehicle carrier — emissions rankings

Car carriers are floating parking towers, and their physics is unusual: enormous windage, light cargo, and capacity measured in car equivalent units rather than tonnes. Emissions per tonne therefore look high even for efficient ships — the cargo simply weighs little relative to the hull pushing it through the wind.

The type had a spectacular 2020s: the electric-vehicle export boom made these ships the tightest market afloat and triggered the first big newbuilding wave in decades, much of it LNG dual-fuel. The generational split is clearly visible in the verified intensity figures.

Verified data reported under the EU MRV regulation (source: EMSA / THETIS-MRV).

Most efficient: Vehicle carrier

Ranked by CO₂ emitted per tonne of cargo carried over one nautical mile — the metric that makes ships of different sizes comparable. Lower is better.

Biggest CO₂ emitters