How Much Fuel Does a Cargo Ship Use? Real Data by Ship Type

A large cargo ship can burn between 5 and over 400 tons of fuel a day, depending on its size, speed, and engine type. That’s roughly what 200 passenger cars burn in a full year, used up in a single day at sea. This guide breaks down real consumption figures by ship type, what drives that number up or down, and how operators cut it.

What Is the Average Fuel Consumption by Ship Size?

Cargo ship fuel consumption ranges from about 5 tons per day for small feeders to over 400 tons per day for the largest container vessels. Ship size, hull design, and cruising speed are the three biggest drivers of that range.

Fuel consumption also depends heavily on ship type and the speed it operates at. The table below breaks down typical daily consumption by category, based on real vessel data.

Container Ship Fuel Consumption

Container Ship Type	Ship Capacity (TEU)	Fuel Consumption per Day (metric tons)
Small feeder	Up to 1,000	5-40 mt/day
Feeder	1,001–2,000	20-70 mt/day
Feedermax	2,001–3,000	40-100 mt/day
Panamax	3,001–5,100	50-200 mt/day
Post-Panamax	5,101–10,000	100-250 mt/day
New Panamax (or Neopanamax)	10,000–14,500	100-250 mt/day
Ultra Large Container Vessel (ULCV)	14,501 and higher	200-400 mt/day

Real-world examples give a clearer picture than averages alone.

CV ELBELLA

CV ELBELLA is a self-sustained cellular container vessel built in 2006, with a summer deadweight of about 23,351 MT and a capacity of 1,740 TEU. Classed as a feeder container ship, it consumes approximately 60 MT of IFO plus 4.0 MT for auxiliary engines at about 20 knots.

CV HYUNDAI AMBITION

A New Panamax class vessel built in 2012, capacity 13,082 TEU, running a HYUNDAI-B&W 12K98ME-C7 engine. Consumption scales sharply with speed: 37 MT/day at 12 knots, 109 MT/day at 18 knots, and 212 MT/day at 23 knots. Generators add roughly 9 MT/day at sea, 7.5 MT/day in port, plus 5 MT/day for boilers.

How Do You Calculate a Ship’s Daily Fuel Consumption?

Daily fuel consumption equals SFOC (specific fuel oil consumption, in grams per kWh) times engine power in kW, times 24 hours. Divide by one million to convert grams into tons — the same method engine makers use to rate any marine diesel.

Take the Ever Given (IMO 9811000), one of Evergreen’s Ever-class container ships and the 20,124-TEU vessel that blocked the Suez Canal in 2021. Her Mitsui-built MAN B&W 11G95ME-C9.5 main engine runs at roughly 53,370 kW at normal service power, with a manufacturer-rated SFOC near 166 g/kWh.

Run those numbers and the main engine alone works out to about 213 tons of fuel a day. Add another 15-20 tons for generators and boilers, and total consumption lands around 230 tons/day at her 22.8-knot service speed.

Evergreen doesn’t publish Ever Given’s actual metered consumption, so this is a calculated estimate from published specs, not a measured figure. The same method works for any ship with known engine data.

Dry Bulk Carrier Fuel Consumption

Bulk Carrier Class	Ship Size	Fuel Consumption per Day (metric tons)
Small, Mini bulker, General Cargo Ship	500 – 10,000 dwt	1-10 mt / day
Handysize	10,000 – 40,000 dwt	10-30 mt / day
Handymax / Supramax / Ultramax	40,000 – 70,000 dwt	25-30 mt / day
Panamax / New Panamax	70,000 – 100,000 dwt	25-35 mt / day
Capesize	100,000 – 200,000 dwt	30-45 mt / day
Chinamax / VLOC	200,000 – 400,000 dwt	40-50 mt / day

How Much Fuel Does a Panamax Bulk Carrier Use?

A Panamax bulk carrier (70,000-82,000 DWT) burns roughly 25-35 tons of fuel a day at normal laden speed of 13-14.5 knots. That’s based on real charter-party performance warranties — not the 60-80 tons/day figure that circulates on some sites.

MV Magic P (IMO 9288447) is a 76,453 DWT Panamax bulker built in 2004, chartered under a publicly filed Safe Bulkers time-charter party. Her warranted performance: 32.2 tons/day laden at 13.5 knots, 30.2 tons/day ballast at 14.0 knots, and 22.2 tons/day at eco-speed of 11.5 knots. Port consumption runs 3.2 tons/day idle and 4.7 tons/day working cargo gear.

No credible source backs a 60-80 ton/day figure for a Panamax at normal sea speed. It’s most likely a repeated inaccuracy — possibly extrapolated from unrealistic speeds near 17 knots, or confused with a larger vessel class.

Ballast consumption on a Panamax bulker usually runs close to laden consumption, sometimes even slightly lower. Reduced draft in ballast partly offsets the higher speed most ballast passages are run at.

OSLO WAVE 3

Built in 2000, 17,485 DWT, running a WARTSILLA 8L46B engine. At full speed (16 knots) it burns 30 mt/24hrs of IFO 380; at eco speed (14 knots), 24 mt/24hrs. MGO use runs 3.0 mt/24hrs operating, 1.5 mt/24hrs idle.

VENEZIA

An Ultramax-class carrier, 60,384 MT DWT, Malta-flagged, built 2017. 14 knots ballast / 13.5 knots laden, consuming 24 MT IFO ballast and 27 MT IFO laden. In port: 2.5 MT IFO + 0.1 MT MDO idle, 3.5 MT IFO + 0.1 MT MDO working.

FORTUNE

A Capesize carrier, 182,620 MT DWT, Malta-flagged, built 2016 — 292m length, 45m beam, 18.180m summer draft. Fuel use: 38.1 MT ballast, 41.5 MT laden; port idle consumption around 3.0 MT IFO + 0.2 MT MGO/LSMGO. Speeds: 14 knots ballast, 13 knots laden.

Oil Tanker Fuel Consumption

Oil Tanker Ship Type	Ship Size	Fuel Consumption per Day (metric tons)
Product tanker / General Purpose tanker	10,000 – 24,999 DWT	5-30 mt/day
Medium Range tanker / Panamax	25,000–44,999 DWT	25-40 mt/day
LR1 / Aframax	45,000–79,999 DWT	30-50 mt/day
LR2 / Suezmax	80,000–159,999 DWT	45-60 mt/day
VLCC	160,000–319,999 DWT	60-100 mt/day
ULCC	320,000–549,999 DWT	100-150 mt/day

MT Elka Glory

An Oil Product / Chemical Tanker, 45,000 DWT, built by Shipyard Brodosplit — 183.40m LOA, 32.00m breadth, 17.95m depth. Powered by a Split-MAN-B&W 6S50MC-C engine, consuming 33.6 t/day, with a 20,000 nm range and 8-grade simultaneous cargo capability.

MT Alan

A Suezmax oil tanker, 166,300 DWT, 281.20m LOA, 48.20m beam, 23.00m depth. Split-MAN-B&W 6S70MC-C engine, 56.7 t/day fuel oil consumption, 23,000 nm range, 185,447 m³ cargo/slop tank capacity.

Fuel Consumption Per Nautical Mile

Daily consumption figures don’t account for how far a ship actually travels in a day. Per-mile figures normalize for that, which is useful when comparing routes or voyage costs directly.

Ship Type	Size & Speed	Per Day (t)	Per Hour (t)	Per Nautical Mile (t)
Feeder Container Ship	500 TEU, 15 kn	15–20	0.6–0.8	0.041–0.055
Supramax Bulk Carrier	50,000 DWT, 15 kn	30–35	1.3–1.5	0.083–0.097
Capesize Bulk Carrier	180,000 DWT, 14 kn	30–45	1.3–1.9	0.089–0.119
Large LNG Carrier	200,000 m³, 20 kn	100–120	4.2–5.0	0.208–0.250
Suezmax Oil Tanker	160,000 DWT, 14 kn	50–60	2.1–2.5	0.149–0.178
New Panamax Container Ship	10,000 TEU, 22 kn	150–200	6.3–8.3	0.284–0.378
VLCC Oil Tanker	300,000+ DWT, 13–14 kn	80–105	3.3–4.4	0.240–0.310

To convert any figure above to consumption per kilometer, divide by 1.852 — the number of kilometers in one nautical mile. A New Panamax container ship burning 0.284-0.378 tons per nautical mile works out to roughly 0.153-0.204 tons per kilometer.

Fuel Types Used on Cargo Ships

Most cargo ships run on heavy fuel oil (HFO) or marine gas oil (MGO), with LNG and biofuels gaining ground under tightening emissions rules. See the full breakdown of marine fuel types and ECA sulfur rules for how each one is regulated.

1. Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) — the most common, roughly 80% of fuel burned fleet-wide. Cheap, but high in sulfur and other pollutants.
2. Marine Gas Oil (MGO) — lighter, lower-sulfur, more expensive than HFO. Standard inside Emission Control Areas (ECAs) in North America and Europe.
3. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) — cleanest-burning of the mainstream options, but requires dedicated equipment and limited bunkering infrastructure.
4. Biodiesel — renewable, biodegradable, but costlier than HFO/MGO and not yet widely adopted.
5. Hydrogen — zero-emissions, but expensive to produce and requires significant new infrastructure.
6. Methane — lower emissions than fossil fuels, produced from biomass or natural gas, still an emerging option.

What Factors Influence Ship Fuel Consumption?

Ship size and weight: larger, heavier ships need more power to move, so they burn more fuel. The Emma Maersk, launched in 2006 as one of the largest container ships of her era, burns roughly 250 tons/day at 25 knots. Today’s biggest ships, in the 24,000+ TEU class, sit at the top of that same range.

Engine type and efficiency: diesel engines dominate the industry for reliability and efficiency. Gas turbines can use up to 30% less fuel but cost more to operate; steam turbines are largely obsolete except on some LNG carriers.

Speed: fuel use rises sharply with speed — a ship burning 10–20 tons/day at 10 knots can jump to 50–100 tons/day at 20 knots. The relationship isn’t perfectly linear, since hull resistance drops as speed increases past a certain point, but as a rule, faster costs more.

Weather and sea state: rough seas and strong currents increase resistance. A ship burning 30–50 tons/day at 15 knots in calm water can rise to 70–100 tons/day in heavy seas.

Cargo operations and heating: running cranes and pumps during loading/unloading adds 2–5 tons/hour on a 50,000-ton vessel. Heating viscous cargo like heavy fuel oil to 60°C can add 0.5–1 ton/hour — up to 120–240 tons across a 10-day voyage.

How Much Do Cargo Ships Spend on Fuel?

Fuel is commonly cited at 50-60% of a cargo ship’s total operating costs. That makes it the single largest expense in running a vessel, ahead of crew wages, insurance, maintenance, and port fees.

That share swings with global bunker prices and a ship’s speed, since consumption rises sharply as speed increases. It’s the main reason slow steaming and the other efficiency measures below get adopted fleet-wide rather than treated as optional upgrades.

Getting the fuel bill right also depends on receiving what’s paid for. Bunker surveyors verify the quantity and quality of fuel delivered at each port call, since shortages and off-spec fuel are common sources of dispute.

Fuel Efficiency Improvements

Cargo ships cut fuel consumption through slow steaming, hull coatings, propeller optimization, fuel switching, and engine upgrades — often combining several for compounding savings.

Since 2023, the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) apply to most oceangoing ships. Together they’ve turned these upgrades into a compliance requirement, not just a cost-saving option.

1. Slow steaming — reducing speed can cut fuel use by up to 30%, at the cost of longer transit times.
2. Hull coatings — low-friction coatings can reduce fuel consumption by up to 10% by cutting drag.
3. Propeller design — optimized pitch, diameter, and materials can save up to 5% on fuel.
4. Fuel switching — moving from HFO to MGO or LNG cuts emissions, though at higher fuel cost and infrastructure requirements.
5. Engine upgrades — modern or retrofitted engines can deliver fuel savings of up to 20%.

Environmental Impact of Cargo Ship Fuel Consumption

Shipping accounts for about 2.89% of global CO2 emissions, according to the IMO’s Fourth GHG Study (2020, based on 2018 data). Most of that comes from CO2 emissions tied to heavy fuel oil.

The IMO has set a target of cutting shipping emissions at least 50% by 2050 versus 2008 levels. MARPOL Annex VI and the EU’s emissions trading system for shipping are driving industry interest in LNG, biofuels, and alternative propulsion.

Frequently Asked Questions