Earlier this year, Chinese electric carmaker BYD cracked the bottle on its very own vehicle transporting ship. Now it’s building seven more to increase export capacity, bringing its total fleet of car carriers to eight.
The first of its cargo ships, called ‘Explorer No. 1’, was delivered to the brand in January and is capable of carrying up to 7000 vehicles at once. BYD hopes that by building and using its own ships to transport vehicles, it’ll reduce transportation costs.
While the first vessel was produced by CIMC Raffles, the next two are currently being manufactured by CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering.
“BYD is going to deploy seven car carriers in the coming two years to ease the shortage of shipping capacity for automobile exports,” company founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu said last month, reports Nikkei Asia.
In 2023, China overtook long-standing rival Japan to become the world’s largest exporter of vehicles, having shifted 4.9 million vehicles for the year.
However, China’s current ability to transport vehicles to other markets isn’t enough to keep up with demand. There are only 40 car carriers owned by Chinese shipping companies, according to Clarksons Research, via Nikkei Asia, which accounts for about 110,000 vehicles total.
Now with vehicle exports rapidly on the rise, especially EVs, more and more shipping companies have placed orders for car carriers.
As for BYD itself, the Chinese carmaker clinched the title of the world’s leading electric carmaker after it overtook Tesla in the fourth quarter of last year. The company aims to maintain its dominance with a fleet of eight ships soon to be at its disposal.
