Estimated CO₂ emitted in EU waters by 58 superyachts, last 24 hours.
The EU already puts a carbon price on commercial shipping. From 2028, it will do the same for fossil fuels used in cars and homes. Yet fuel burned by most private superyachts will remain outside both systems.
Superyachts are among the most carbon-intensive forms of private transport in the world — burning enormous amounts of fuel to carry a handful of guests. Across Europe, other major polluters are increasingly required to measure, report and pay for their emissions. Superyachts, largely, are not.
Wakeprint tracks what they emit in EU waters — underway, at anchor and in port.
Estimated over the last 24 hours from 58 superyachts with enough 24-hour tracking data to support a reliable estimate, out of 468 targeted vessels. The model cannot pin down an exact figure, so it shows the honest range instead of a falsely precise single number. Positions are delayed by at least 15 minutes.
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Support WakeprintThese cards measure different things: the total fleet Wakeprint tries to track, the subset with enough reliable 24-hour tracking data to estimate emissions, and the smaller groups for which a published value or guest capacity is known. That is why the denominators differ.
58
58 of 468 targeted yachts currently have enough 24-hour tracking data to be published. Live figure from the observation pipeline.
$3.57bn
Includes values with high or medium confidence only (confirmed transactions, broker listings, and credible editorial estimates) for 31 of 58 observed vessels. Low-confidence estimates are excluded, not assumed to be zero.
604
Published maximum guest capacity across 32 of 58 observed vessels with documented figures. Excludes crew. Not a count of people aboard.
94.1%
Average share of the 24h window covered by usable observations, across only the vessels that are currently published. A separate measurement from the 24-hour data pass rate elsewhere on this page — this one describes completeness within already-published vessels, not how many vessels qualify for publication in the first place.
Observed positions in EU waters
58 of 468 targeted vessels observed in EU waters in the current window.
EU waters here means the territorial seas and internal waters of EU member states; Monaco has neither and is not included. Vessels anchored just outside Monaco may lie in adjacent French waters and are counted there.
Live AIS · positions delayed by at least 15 minutes · not a realtime tracker.
This map updates continuously as new AIS positions arrive. Other figures on this site (fleet totals, emissions) refresh hourly and may reflect a slightly earlier moment — they are not always perfectly in sync with this live view.
They don't need to move to burn fuel
92–93% of this fleet's estimated emissions happen while stationary — at anchor or moored in port.
Fuel per state comes from the same fuel_by_state aggregate as the technical "Fleet fuel burned" section below, converted to CO₂ with the fixed emission factor. Bar length is proportional to each state's CO₂ range midpoint.
The rules that do not reach them
Superyachts are among the most carbon-intensive forms of private transport in the world — burning enormous amounts of fuel to carry a handful of guests.
Yet when these vessels move through EU waters, anchor off our coasts or call at our ports, they can remain outside climate rules and carbon-pricing systems that already apply to other major emitters.
Wakeprint makes that footprint visible and comparable. Using vessel movements, published specifications and transparent emission models, we show what superyachts emit in EU waters — underway, at anchor and in port.
Because before we can judge whether the rules are fair, we need to know who is emitting what — and who is still escaping the bill.
The EU already prices CO₂ from intra-EU flights (since 2012) and commercial shipping (since 2024). From 2028, ETS2 will extend carbon pricing to road-transport fuel and building-heating fuel for the first time, adding an estimated €80–150 per year to typical household bills. To offset this, the EU created an €87 billion Social Climate Fund (2026–2032) for vulnerable households. ETS2 covers road transport and building-heating fuel specifically — marine/bunker fuel, including that used by private yachts, falls outside its scope entirely. The same system does not reach superyachts.
In the last 24 hours.
Enough fuel for a full Airbus A350-900 to fly Munich to Singapore, nonstop, 0.8–1.8 times.
Munich–Singapore is a real Lufthansa Airbus A350-900 route, flown nonstop. 10,062 km actual route distance (published, not estimated) at 900 km/h cruise, 6,000 kg/hour fuel burn, converted at 0.8 kg/L jet fuel density = 83,850 litres per flight. Full aircraft fuel per flight, not per passenger. Illustration of scale, not part of the emissions calculation.
5,253–10,285 L
Fuel burned while making way, from state-specific fuel rates.
60,438–138,348 L
Generator and hotel load while at anchor and in port.
65,692–148,633 L
Fuel density 0.84 kg/L is the default where no vessel-specific value is published (superyacht_master_batches_1-5_fuel_speed.xlsx, sheet "Methodology", row "Default diesel density" (modelling assumption only)).
15,885–25,960 kg CO₂
82.9 vessel-hours observed in this state.
28,561–51,352 kg CO₂
132.5 vessel-hours observed in this state.
163,087–292,338 kg CO₂
1,021.7 vessel-hours observed in this state.
- 01Boadicea76.6 m · NORMAL15.9–26.5 t
- 02Energy77.8 m · NORMAL14.2–23.6 t
- 03Sakura82.9 m · NORMAL13.7–22.8 t
- 04Milky Way89.6 m · NORMAL13.5–22.5 t
- 05Marquise72.0 m · NORMAL8.1–13.5 t
Live ranking from the published fleet view, sorted by upper-bound CO₂. Only yachts with enough reliable 24-hour tracking data appear here, so the list can be shorter than five — it is never padded.
Share of the targeted fleet that currently has enough usable 24-hour tracking data to be published. This rises as tracking coverage builds across the fleet — a normal figure during early-stage tracking, not a measure of data quality.
Average share of the 24h window covered by usable observations, across only the vessels that are currently published. A separate measurement from the 24-hour data pass rate above — this one describes completeness within already-published vessels, not how many vessels qualify for publication in the first place.
Three separate measurements. They are never merged into a single coverage figure.
Every figure on this site is labelled Observed, Published specification, or Estimated — and links to the exact model and data source behind it. Nothing here is stated as fact without a traceable source.
- Observed
- An AIS message was received: position, speed over ground, timestamp.
- Published specification
- A static figure from builder, registry or class records — length, tonnage, engine configuration, maximum guest berths.
- Estimated
- A model output with an uncertainty range: fuel burn, CO2, market value.
- Insufficient coverage
- Too little observational data in the window to publish a confident figure.
Provenance-first: observed data and modelled estimates are never mixed without saying so.
Read the full methodology