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100 Third IMO GHG Study 2014
Table 37 – Annual loss of refrigerants from the global fleet during 2012. Annual release of 40% total
refrigerant carried is assumed except for passenger-class vessels, where 20% refrigerant loss is assumed.
Ro-ro, pax, ro-pax and cruise vessels are calculated as passenger ships
Ship type
Annual loss, air
conditioning, tons
Annual loss,
cooling, tons
R-22, tons R134a, tons R404, tons
Bulk carrier 466.9 31.1 195.7 275.4 14.6
Chemical tanker 221.7 14.8 83.6 140.0 6.7
Container 230.5 15.4 96.4 136.2 7.2
Cruise 622.8 41.5 407.9 228.1 20.8
Ferry – pax only 313.9 12.6 245.9 72.8 6.3
Ferry – ro-pax 285.6 11.4 211.8 78.0 5.7
General cargo 740.0 49.3 555.2 196.9 28.5
Liquefied gas tanker 72.4 4.8 35.1 38.1 2.4
Miscellaneous – fishing 1,000.3 1,421.1 1,259.8 145.4 878.6
Miscellaneous – other 261.0 17.4 180.9 84.0 9.7
Offshore 309.2 20.6 138.2 174.0 9.9
Oil tanker 332.1 22.1 186.0 150.1 11.4
Other liquids tankers 6.7 0.4 3.8 3.0 0.2
Refrigerated bulk 48.7 812.3 297.5 3.4 522.9
Ro-ro 173.9 7.0 130.7 45.7 3.5
Service – tug 657.5 43.8 372.9 292.7 22.7
Service – other 26.1 1.7 18.1 8.4 1.0
Vehicle 37.5 2.5 16.6 21.3 1.2
Yacht 70.2 4.7 24.2 46.6 2.1
Total, tons 5,877.1 2,534.6 4,460.1 2,140.2 1,555.4
The estimated reefer TEU count globally is 1.7 million TEU, which would result in 10,070 tons of refrigerant
charge and 1,510 tons of refrigerant release in 2012. This means an additional 1,208 tons of R134a and 302
tons of R404 on top of the values in Table 37, if the 80:20 ratio of the DG ENV (2007) report is used.
There is large uncertainty about the leakage rate of refrigerants from ships. A range of 20%–40% is reported
by both UNEP and DG ENV, attributed to the permanent exposure of refrigerated systems to continuous
motion (waves), which can cause damage and leakage to piping (DG ENV). The average estimate, using a
30% leakage rate, is described in Table 37 and amounts to 8,412 tons. The corresponding values for low- and
high-bound estimates are 5,967 tons and 10,726 tons respectively. In the 2010 UNEP report, the annual loss
of refrigerants is reported as 7,850 tons, which is close to the estimate of this study. If the refrigerant emissions
from reefer containers are included, then an additional 1,510 tons (80% R134a, 20% R404a) should be added
to these numbers.
Global warming potential of refrigerant emission from ships
According to the results of this study, the share of R-22 is 70%, R134a 26% and R404a 4%. The balance of
refrigerant shares will shift towards R134a when old vessels using R-22 as a cooling agent are replaced with
new ships using HFCs (R134a). The use of R-22 in industrial refrigeration in developed countries is on the
decline because it is banned in new refrigerating units. However, the Montreal Protocol has determined that
it can be used until 2040 in developing countries.