The Xeneta and Marine Benchmark Carbon Emissions Index (CEI) has fallen below 100 points for the first time in 12 months, standing at 97.4 points in Q2 2025. This represents a 4.5% decrease from Q1 2025 and a 7% reduction from the record high of 104.8 points in Q4 2024.
“The Q2 2025 score represents two quarters of consecutive decline and a clear indicator of an improving picture for reducing emissions in ocean container shipping,” said Emily Stausbøll at Xeneta.
The dramatic rise in carbon emissions throughout 2024 was directly attributed to the Red Sea conflict, which forced most containerships to sail around the Cape of Good Hope instead of using the shorter Suez Canal route. This rerouting significantly impacted carbon emissions on trades connecting the Far East with Mediterranean and North European ports, as well as affecting North America’s East Coast and Gulf Coast trades to a lesser extent.
The CEI, which measures carbon emissions across Xeneta’s top 13 global ocean container shipping trades, uses Q1 2018 as its baseline. Any reading above 100 indicates that carbon emissions per tonne of cargo are higher than levels from that period.
What makes the current improvement particularly noteworthy is that most containerships are still navigating around the Cape of Good Hope in 2025, yet Q2 emissions performance is only 1.5% higher than Q2 2023 levels, when most vessels were still using the Suez Canal.
“This clearly demonstrates that, if there is a resolution to the conflict and the Red Sea opens up at large, carbon emissions performance at a global level would drop significantly below the levels seen in 2023,” Stausbøll noted.
The best performing trade routes on the CEI are Far East to US East Coast and Far East to US West Coast, with scores of 71.2 and 71.1 respectively. The US West Coast route, unaffected by Suez Canal operations, has maintained a score below 80 points for ten consecutive quarters.
Additional factors influencing emissions performance include global trade patterns, vessel speed, and ship size. For instance, the North Europe to US East Coast trade saw emissions increase by 10.9% compared to Q1 2025, reaching 92 points. This increase has been attributed to vessels sailing at higher speeds across the Atlantic to beat tariff deadlines implemented under recent US trade policies.
Carrier performance also varies significantly, with CMA CGM and HMM leading the pack in Q2 2025, each topping the performance charts on three of the 13 major trade routes.
