This is how China dominates car shipping

Guangzhou Shipyard International, one of the largest Chinese shipyards, has just delivered its third ship of the same series with capacity for 10,800 vehicles. These are figures that do not clash much with the current panorama, where China exports its new energy vehicles at full speed. But this data also hides one of the most interesting transformations in automotive logistics in recent years. And it explains how China has gone from depending on South Korean and Japanese shipping companies to building itself the ships that today transport its cars around the planet.

What has happened? The shipyard we mentioned, a subsidiary of the state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), has delivered its third ship in a series of “megaships” designed to transport 10,800 vehicles on each trip. The first, named Glovis Leader, was delivered last April and was the first in the world to overcome the barrier of 10,000 cars in a single journey, according to they counted in The Maritime Executive.

This third ship in the series, whose name we still do not know, was delivered at the end of June and will follow the same fate as its siblings, operating under the umbrella of the South Korean shipping company Hyundai Glovis.

In detail. These vessels belong to a very specific category within maritime transport: PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carrier), that is, ships designed exclusively to load vehicles and not other types of merchandise. They do not carry cranes or containers, since cars They are stored through a rear ramp and they park inside as if it were a parking lot of various heights.

In this case, the ship measures 230 meters in length (length) and 40 meters in width (width), and distributes its load over 14 decks, five of which can be elevated to also be able to transport buses, trailers or larger heavy machinery, depending on technical data shared by Baird Maritime. This megaship can be powered by both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and conventional fuel.

Why it is important. Until relatively recently, much of the maritime transport of Chinese cars depended on foreign shipping companies, mainly South Korean, Japanese and Norwegian. The problem is that demand has skyrocketed, as China has become in the world’s largest exporter of carsespecially electric vehicles, and there were not enough ships available to take them out of the country. This shortage ended up skyrocketing freight prices, so China decided to correct that dependence by building its own fleet.

In just a decade, the average capacity of these ships has grown strongly. If in 2014 a typical ship was around 6,000 or 7,000 vehicles, today Chinese shipyards routinely deliver ships capable of exceeding 10,000.

Ships with record numbers. Chinese shipyards have engaged in a race that they have been waging among themselves for years. Before the Glovis Leader and its siblings, the record was held by the Anji Soundness and the Anji Ansheng, two sister ships of 9,500 vehicles operated by Anji Logistics, the logistics subsidiary of automobile giant SAIC Motor. BYD, the largest Chinese manufacturer of electric cars, already has its own fleet of eight ships that allows it to export more than a million vehicles a year, according to data collected by CnEVPost.

GSI, the shipyard responsible for this third vessel, has already accumulated more than 40 orders and has completed 26 deliveries, more than 95% of them for foreign customers, which gives an idea of ​​the extent to which the Chinese naval industry has become a supplier to the rest of the world.

Between the lines. The Glovis Leader and its sister ships will operate on sea routes connecting South Korea with Southeast Asia, North America and Europe, serving mainly Hyundai and Kia, according to they counted from Baird Maritime. That is to say, although the ships are built in China, they will not transport Chinese cars, but rather South Korean cars.

And China not only exports its own vehicles on its own ships, but has also become the reference shipyard to which other automotive powers turn to solve their own capacity problem.

And now what. GSI has another eleven more under construction, with deliveries scheduled until 2028, according to they claim from Shippax. And the record for the highest capacity will not last long either, since the Norwegian shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen has already announced that it will expand four of its Shaper series ships to 11,700 vehicles.

Cover image | ShanghaiEye (X)

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