Intermodal Freight v2 ADD-ONADD-ON
This feature is currently in preview. That means that we believe the feature is good enough to start using, but:
- There might still be bugs or edge cases we haven't covered.
- The documentation and error messages might be less detailed.
- We might need to make further changes in the API surface.
We need the ability to iterate quickly on preview versions, so we offer less guarantees of stability. When we make changes to the preview version, we will release a new version, and you must migrate to this new version within one month. Read more about API versioning at Climatiq here.For this reason, preview endpoints are not available without explicitly opting in. If you would like to opt-in to this preview feature, please contact us.
Climatiq allows you to use emission factors from the Global Logistics Emissions Council(GLEC) (opens in a new tab) to calculate the carbon emissions for shipping freight around the world using multiple modes of transport such as by sea, air, road or rail.
This is the API reference for the intermodal freight feature.
If you're just getting started, we highly recommend that you start with the guide that explains the concepts you will need to understand to effectively use the endpoint
If you're already using version 1 and are interested in upgrading, we suggest you start with the changelog which highlights which sections of this document to concentrate on.
Estimate
POST Calculate total estimated emissions produced by shipping an amount of cargo by the specified route.
https://preview.api.climatiq.io/freight/v2-preview1/intermodalRequest
This endpoint accepts the following parameters:
- cargorequired object
The details of the cargo being shipped
- routerequired array of Route Legs or Locations
An array of route parts that compose the route this cargo is taking. A route must start and end with a location, and have legs between each location. Sometimes you may omit some locations and rely on automatic routing.
curl --request POST \--url https://preview.api.climatiq.io/freight/v2-preview1/intermodal \--header "Authorization: Bearer $CLIMATIQ_API_KEY" \--data '{ "route": [ { "location": { "query": "Hamburg" } }, { "transport_mode": "road", "leg_details": { "vehicle_type": "van", "vehicle_weight": "lte_3.5t", "fuel_source": "petrol" } }, { "location": { "query": "Berlin" } } ], "cargo": { "weight": 10, "weight_unit": "t" }}'Response
A response consists of the following attributes.
| Response attributes |
|---|
| co2e float The total carbon dioxide equivalent emitted for the entire trip. This encompasses logistics hubs, vehicle operations and vehicle energy provisioning. |
| hub_equipment_co2e float The carbon dioxide equivalent emitted for the operation of logistics hubs during the trip. This encompasses both operational and energy provisioning emissions. Logistics hubs emissions cover the transportation and movement of cargo from one mode of transportation to another, such as moving containers from a truck to a ship. |
| vehicle_operation_co2e float The carbon dioxide equivalent emitted for the part of the trip where the vehicle is being operated, such as the combustion of fuel, leakage of refrigerants etc. |
| vehicle_energy_provision_co2e float The carbon dioxide equivalent emitted for the provisioning of energy for the vehicle operations. This covers among others: electricity generation, electricity transmission and distribution losses, the production of fuel, and the transportation of fuel to the vehicle. |
| co2e_unit string The unit in which the CO2e fields is expressed. Is always kg |
| distance_km float The distance in kilometers that the cargo has been shipped along the specified route. |
| cargo_tonnes float The weight in tonnes which is being shipped along the specified route. |
| route array of alternating ResponseLocations and ResponseLegs An array that specifies the route the cargo took. This array will always consist of alternating response locations and response legs. It will always start and end with a location. Even if you have omitted any locations, they will not be omitted in the response. |
| notices Notice An array of notices that is relevant for understanding the result. This could be if Climatiq cannot accurately calculate the distance for a certain route, but still performed a less-accurate calculation. |
{ "co2e": 2848, "hub_equipment_co2e": 12, "vehicle_operation_co2e": 2149, "vehicle_energy_provision_co2e": 687, "co2e_unit": "kg", "cargo_tonnes": 10, "distance_km": 292.3, "route": [ { "type": "location", "co2e": 6, "co2e_unit": "kg", "name": "Hamburg, Germany", "latitude": 53.55562, "longitude": 9.98745, "confidence_score": 1 }, { "type": "leg", "co2e": 2836, "co2e_unit": "kg", "vehicle_operation_co2e": 2149, "vehicle_energy_provision_co2e": 687, "transport_mode": "road", "distance_km": 292.3 }, { "type": "location", "co2e": 6, "co2e_unit": "kg", "name": "Berlin, Germany", "latitude": 52.51604, "longitude": 13.37691, "confidence_score": 1 } ], "notices": []}Climatiq draws information from many sources, including OpenStreetMap (opens in a new tab). The license of that information requires you to provide attribution where this information comes from. If you display information such as routes and location names externally, you should make sure you correctly attribute this data to OpenStreetMaps, e.g. by writing "May contain information from OpenStreetMap".
Route Leg
Each route in the request has one or more legs. A leg is a transition between two locations. A leg contains the following properties.
- transport_moderequired string
How the goods are transported. Allowed values are
air,sea,road,rail. - leg_detailsobject
The details of the leg such as fuel and vessel type. Valid values here vary between
transport_mode. Allowed values are RoadDetails, SeaDetails, AirDetails or RailDetails. - planned_distance_kmfloat
Planned Distance or Shortest Feasible Distance for the leg. We will use this distance instead of the planned distance we would normally calculate. If you need to use an actual distance, be careful to apply a Distance Adjustment Factor (DAF) in order to reduce the distance. For example, GLEC suggests that for sea transport, a DAF of 15% can be used to account for average container sea transport distances being on average 15% longer than the shortest feasible distance - ie. divide the actual distance by 1.15 to get the appropriate planned distance. GLEC does not provide guidance for any other transport modes.
A route cannot by default have more than three legs. If you need more than three legs, you can call the API endpoint multiple times, or contact Climatiq (opens in a new tab) to get this limit raised
Road (Outside of North America)
A leg with the "transport_mode": "road", can specify further details about the journey by including this object under leg_details.
Note that these options are only relevant for trips outside of North America. Otherwise, see the sections below.
Different vehicle_types have different requirements and options. Please consult the table further down for the list of valid parameter combinations.
- vehicle_typerequired string
The type of vehicle that is used for the transportation.
articulatedandrigidrefers to truck types. All valid values are:van,rigid_truck,articulated_truck,articulated_truck_incl_lightweight_trailer - vehicle_weightrequired string
The carrying capacity of the vehicle, as a string specifying the range. E.g.
gt_60t_lte_72tmeans a carrying capacity greater than 60tons and less than or equal to 72tons. Refer to the table below for all valid combinations of values. - fuel_sourcerequired string
The fuel source that the vehicle is running on. Valid values vary depending on the vehicle type, but all valid values are:
diesel,cng,lng,bio_lng,bio_lng_or_diesel,cng_or_diesel,lng_or_diesel,petrol,electricity - load_typestring
The type of load the vehicle carries. Valid values vary depending on the vehicle type, but all valid values are:
light,heavy,container.Default ValueAverage
Valid parameter combinations (Outside of North America)
Please consult this table to see what valid combinations of values are when outside of north america, this includes electrical vehicles:
vehicle_type Parameter | fuel_source Parameter | vehicle_weight Parameter | load_type Parameter |
articulated_truck | lng, lng_or_diesel, bio_lng, bio_lng_or_diesel, cng, cng_or_diesel | lte_40t | container, null |
diesel | lte_34t, gt_34t_lte_40t | container, null | |
gt_40t_lte_44t | container, heavy, light, null | ||
gt_44t_lte_60t | container, heavy, null` | ||
gt_60t_lte_72t | container, heavy | ||
articulated_truck_incl_lightweight_trailer | diesel | lte_40t | heavy |
rigid_truck | cng | gt_3.5t_lte_7.5t, gt_7.5t_lte_12t, gt_12t_lte_20t, gt_20t_lte_26t | null |
diesel | gt_3.5t_lte_7.5t, gt_7.5t_lte_12t, gt_12t_lte_20t, gt_20t_lte_26t | null | |
gt_26t_lte_32t | container, null | ||
lng | gt_20t_lte_26t | null | |
electricity | gt_3.5t_lte_7.5t, gt_7.5t_lte_12t, gt_12t_lte_20t gt_26t_lte_40t | light, null | |
van | diesel, petrol, cng, lpg, electricity | lte_3.5t | null |
Road (Combustion vehicles within North America)
A leg with the "transport_mode": "road", can specify further details about the journey by including this object under leg_details.
Note that these options are only relevant trips using combustion engines inside of North America. For trips with Electrically powered vehicles or outside of North America, use the sections above and below.
- vehicle_typerequired string
The type of vehicle that is used for the transportation. All valid values are:
auto carrier,dray,expedited,flatbed,general,heavy_bulk,ltl_or_dry_van,mixed,moving,package,refrigerated,specialized,tanker,tl_or_dry_van,vanDefault Valuegeneral
Road (Electric Vehicles)
A leg with the "transport_mode": "road", can specify further details about the journey by including this object under leg_details.
Note that these options are only relevant for trips using electric vehicles. Otherwise, see the sections above.
Different vehicle_types have different requirements and options. Please consult the table further down for the list of valid parameter combinations.
- vehicle_typerequired string
The type of vehicle that is used for the transportation. All valid values are:
van,rigid_truck - vehicle_weightrequired string
The carrying capacity of the vehicle, as a string specifying the range. E.g.
gt_34t_lte_40tmeans a carrying capacity greater than 34tonnes and less than or equal to 40tonnes. Refer to the table below for all valid combinations of values. - fuel_sourcerequired string
Always
electricityfor electric vehicles. - load_typestring
The type of load the vehicle carries. Valid values vary depending on the vehicle type, but all valid values are:
lightDefault ValueAverage
Valid parameter combinations (Electric only)
Please consult this table to see what valid combinations of values are then using Electric trucks worldwide:
vehicle_type Parameter | fuel_source Parameter | vehicle_weight Parameter | load_type Parameter |
rigid_truck | electricity | gt_3.5t_lte_7.5t, gt_7.5t_lte_12t, gt_12t_lte_20t gt_26t_lte_40t | light, null |
van | electricity | lte_3.5t | null |
Sea
A leg with the "transport_mode": "sea", can specify further details about the journey by including this object under leg_details.
- vessel_typerequired string
The type of vessel that is used for the transportation. Refer to the table below for all valid combinations of values.
Default Valuecontainer - tonnagestring
The tonnage the ship can carry, as a string specifying the range E.g.
gte_5dwkt_lt_10dwktmeans more than (or equal to) 5 deadweight kilotonnes, and less than 10 deadweight kilotonnes. You might also see the abbreviationgtfor gross tonnage. Refer to the table below for all valid combinations of values. - fuel_sourcestring
The type of fuel that the ship uses. Refer to the table below for all valid combinations of values.
Valid parameter combinations
Please consult this table to see what valid combinations of values are:
vessel_type Parameter | tonnage Parameter | fuel_source Parameter |
container | null | null |
bulk_carrier |
| hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
chemical_tanker | lt_5dwkt, gte_5dwkt_lt_10dwkt, gte_10dwkt_lt_20dwkt, gte_20dwkt_lt_40dwkt, gte_40dwkt | hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
ferry_ropax | lt_2000gt, gte_2000gt_lt_5000gt, gte_5000gt_lt_10000gt, gte_10000gt_lt_20000gt, gte_20000gt | hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
general_cargo | lt_5dwkt, gte_5dwkt_lt_10dwkt, gte_10dwkt_lt_20dwkt, gte_20dwkt | hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
liquefied_gas_tanker | lt_50000cbm, gte_50000cbm_lt_100000cbm, gte_100000cbm_lt_200000cbm, gte_200000cbm | hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
oil_tanker | lt_5dwkt, gte_5dwkt_lt_10dwkt, gte_10dwkt_lt_20dwkt, gte_20dwkt_lt_60dwkt, gte_60dwkt_lt_80dwkt, gte_80dwkt_lt_120dwkt, gte_120dwkt_lt_200dwkt, gte_200dwkt | hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
other_liquids_tankers | lt_1dwkt, gte_1dwkt | hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
refrigerated_bulk | lt_2dwkt, gte_2dwkt_lt_6dwkt, gte_6dwkt_lt_10dwkt, gte_10dwkt | hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
ro_ro | lt_5dwkt, gte_5dwkt_lt_10dwkt, gte_10dwkt_lt_15dwkt, gte_15dwkt | hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
vehicle | lt_30000gt, gte_30000gt_lt_50000gt, gte_50000gt | hfo, vlsfo, mdo |
The emission factors for the ro_ro (Roll on - Roll off) vessel type are calculated differently than other types of vessels. For ro_ro vessels, the weight should include both the vehicle and any cargo it carries. In contrast, for other vessel types, only the weight of the cargo should be considered.
If you're shipping cargo using a vehicle on a ro_ro vessel, you'll need to adjust your API request accordingly. You may also choose to attribute only a portion of the emissions to yourself if you are transporting only part of the vehicle's cargo.
Please note that the Climatiq API does not automatically select ro_ro vessels as the default option, so you only need to take this into account if you explicitly choose this vessel type.
Air
A leg with the "transport_mode": "air", can specify further details about the journey by including this object under leg_details.
- aircraft_typestring
The aircraft type used to carry the shipment. Use
freighterif it is a dedicated cargo plane, orbelly_freightif it is transported in the belly of a passenger plane.Default ValueAverage - radiative_forcing_indexfloat
The radiative forcing index to multiply the emissions by (see info box below). If you do not want a radiative forcing index to be applied, you may specify
1Default Value2
GLEC default emission factors do not include a Radiative Forcing Index (RFI) (opens in a new tab). RFIs are applied to account for the increased impact on global heating made by greenhouse gases released directly into the upper atmosphere by aircraft. RFI values depend on things like altitude and trip length and are subject to uncertainty and disagreements. To perform the most accurate calculations, this endpoint currently applies an RFI of 2 to all flights, based on the latest available science (opens in a new tab). If a Radiative Forcing Index has been applied, a notice will be returned.
Rail
A leg with the "transport_mode": "rail"; you can specify further details about the journey by including this object under leg_details.
- fuel_sourcestring
The fuel type that the train runs on. Valid values are
diesel,electricity; do not include if hybrid or unknown (an averaged factor will be applied).electriccan only be specified for journeys within Europe or Asia.Default ValueRegional average or default - load_typestring
The load that the train is carrying. Valid values are
building_materials,cars,cereals,chemicals,coal_steel,container,manufactured_products,trailer_only_on_train,truck_plus_trailer_on_trainDefault ValueAverage
We have not yet implemented network distance calculations for rail outside of Europe; in the interim we fallback to using the great circle distance between the points.
The GLEC emission factors have a good coverage of Europe, with diesel and electric options and different load types represented. US has more basic factors , while for the rest of the world, in absence of applicable factors, under GLEC guidance we fall back to using a factor reflecting the European average.
Notices should be present in your response if your query has hit any of these limitations.
Location
A trip always has two or more locations.
| Request Location Attributes | Required |
|---|---|
| location Location Either a QueryLocation, an IataCodeLocation, an UNLocodeLocation or a CoordinateLocation | required |
| location_options Location Options Extra options that a location can have. See section below. | optional |
Query Location
| Query Location Attributes | Required |
|---|---|
| query string A free text query describing the location, such as "Berlin, Germany", or "10 Downing Street". | optional |
| country string The 2-letter ISO-3166 country code (opens in a new tab) for a given location. | optional |
| postal_code string The postal (or zip) code for the given location. If used, country or query must also be specified. | optional |
All the properties are optional, but you must specify at least a query or a country + postal_code. You may specify all three.
Note that not all countries have support for postal codes, and the format might be different from country to country. See this table (opens in a new tab) for details on postal codes.
IATA Code Location
| IataLocation Attributes | Required |
|---|---|
| iata string An IATA airport code. | required |
UN/LOCODE Location
| UNLocode Location Attributes | Required |
|---|---|
| locode string An UN/LOCODE (opens in a new tab) of the format DE-BER for Berlin. The Locode must contain both country and location. | required |
Coordinate Location
| Coordinate Location Attributes | Required |
|---|---|
| longitude float The longitude of the coordinate. | required |
| latitude float The latitude of the coordinate. | required |
| country float The 2-letter country code for the country that this coordinate is located within. | required |
Location Options
There are other options that are sometimes relevant to change. If a location is adjacent to a fixed-transition point leg, Climatiq automatically makes small corrections to turn your provided location into the proper port, airport or railway station. See Automatic Location Correction for more details.
| Location Options Attributes | Required | Default |
|---|---|---|
| override_transition boolean If the location is known to be valid for transition between different modalities, for example when providing the coordinates of a private railway terminal or dock, this overrides our attempts to automatically correct the location to a known fixed transition point and prevents errors. | optional | false |
| tolerance_km float The maximum distance, in km, that we would correct a location to match a mixed transition point. Increasing this can help with some errors which occur with very large ports, etc. for which different locations may be identified. | optional | 10 |
| logistics_hubs_type string The type of logistics hub operation performed at this location, if you wish to override the default. Logistics hubs are where freight is stored and processed, and where freight is moved between vehicles. Valid values are: none, transshipment, storage_and_transshipment, warehouse, liquid_bulk_terminals and maritime_container_terminals. Refrigerated variants exist for all these values, and are selected if the cargo is marked as refrigerated. | optional | transshipment unless one of the adjacent legs is sea container shipping, then maritime_container_terminals |
Response Models
These are more in-depth explanations of the models returned by the intermodal freight endpoint.
ResponseLocation
The location in the route array of the response will contain the following properties
| Response Location attributes |
|---|
| type "location" constant to easily show whether the item is a location or leg |
| co2e float The carbon dioxide equivalent emitted for the operation of logistics hubs at this location. This encompasses both operational and energy provisioning emissions. Logistics hubs emissions cover the transportation and movement of cargo from one mode of transportation to another, such as moving containers from a truck to a ship. |
| name string A human-readable name of the location |
| latitude string or null The latitude of the location. This is only returned if you have access to view coordinates. Please contact us if you need this enabled. |
| longitude string or null The longitude of the location. This is only returned if you have access to view coordinates. Please contact us if you need this enabled. |
| confidence_score float A confidence score between 0 and 1, determining how certain we are that the location matches your query. Only exists if the input location was a QueryLocation |
ResponseLeg
The leg in the route array of the response will contain the following properties
| Response Leg attributes |
|---|
| type "leg" constant to easily show whether the item is a location or leg |
| co2e float The total carbon dioxide equivalent emitted for this leg of the trip. This encompasses both vehicle operations and vehicle energy provisioning. |
| vehicle_operation_co2e float The carbon dioxide equivalent emitted for the part of the trip where the vehicle is being operated, such as the combustion of fuel, leakage of refrigerants etc. |
| vehicle_energy_provision_co2e float The carbon dioxide equivalent emitted for the provisioning of energy for the vehicle operations. This covers among others: electricity generation, electricity transmission and distribution losses, the production of fuel, and the transportation of fuel to the vehicle. |
| transport_mode string What transport mode this leg corresponds to. Will be "road", "air", "sea" or "rail" |
| distance_km float The distance in kilometers for this leg of the trip. |
Notice
The notices array can contain these objects:
| Notice attributes |
|---|
| severity string Either warning or info. warning is for messages that might lead to inaccurate calculations. You should check these to make sure the results are fit for your intended purpose. info is for information that will help you understand the calculation result better. |
| message string An explanation of the notice. |
| leg_index integer An optional number describing which leg of the journey this notice belongs to. |
| code string A programmatic value you can use to disambiguate the different notice types. |
The different possible values for code are as follows. You should not treat this list as exhaustive as more values may be added with time:
| Notice code value | description |
|---|---|
great_circle_distance_used | Great Circle Distance was used for the whole route in absence of more detailed routing capabillity. |
truck_ferry_used | The truck used for the journey was put on a ferry for part of the journey, sea factors were used for the covered distance |
truck_rail_used | The truck used for the journey was put on a train for part of the journey, rail factors were used for the covered distance |
partial_great_circle_distance_used | We were not able to route all parts successfully. Parts of the route were filled with great circle distance calculations. |
region_fallback | Factors or calculation methods for the exact region are not available, we have used a fallback region which we believe best covers the specified region |
radiative_forcing_applied | An adjustment was applied to the co2e of the estimate, due to the effects of radiative forcing. |
global_electricity_factor_used | A country-specific electricity factor wasn't available, so global was used instead. |