Chinese auto giant BYD has built a vessel that is able to ship 7,000 cars at a time. The ship has just completed its inaugural seven-day sea trial.
Over the past few years, there were rumors of BYD building its own car carrier. The first confirmation came in October 2023, when local media, citing multiple sources, claimed a BYD affiliate would order eight ro-ro vessels with a capacity of 7,700 cars at a shipyard in Yantai, Shandong.
And it is happening sooner than expected, with the ship already having completed its trial voyage. The Ro-Ro (roll on/roll off) Explorer 1 sailed for seven days in Yantai.
The mammoth vessel is manufactured by Guangzhou Shipbuilding International, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation in Nansha, Guanzhou. The company had announced, back in January, that it had been awarded two pure car/truck carriers by BYD.
The build of the 7000 dual-fuel car carrier (PCTC) project No. 1, representing the “green low-carbon upgraded version 2.0,” started earlier this year.
The BYD 7000 dual-fuel PCTC ship is included in the PCTC series and is able to transport 7,000 cars. It is 199.9 meters (655.8 feet) long, has a width of 38 meters (124.6 feet), a design draft of 9 meters (29.5 feet), and a design speed of 18.5 knots (34.3 kph or 21.3 mph).
The ship is powered by a natural gas (LNG)/fuel dual fuel propulsion system, which is a big step toward cleaner energy solutions in maritime transport. Furthermore, for the first time, it integrates a battery pack and a shaft generator for zero-emission sailing. The system includes energy-saving features such as energy-efficient devices, drag-reducing, plus anti-fouling paint.
The company did not share any further details, but published a video of the ship with the words “LNG Powered” printed on the sides.
Two such ships will be manufactured during the first stage, with BYD being the owner of both. A total of six ships have been confirmed for construction, with an additional two as option orders. The auto giant is going to assist European shipping companies with the logistical challenges that they have been battling for ages.
The estimated cost of the large-scale build is of nearly 5 billion yuan (over $704 million). It is BYD’s manner of expanding its overseas market presence. Last month, BYD exported a record 30,629 electric cars overseas, up by 148.65 percent compared to the same period last year, with a total of 206,679 examples from January to November 2023.
Car shipping in the news this past summer due to the Fremantle Highway blaze
The last time car shipping was on the news was this past summer, when a nearly 200-meter (600-foot) vessel burned out of control for a whole week in the North Sea, not far from the Dutch coast. 3,784 new and used vehicles were on board the Fremantle Highway cargo ship, with 498 of them being electric. The vehicles were supposed to travel from the German port of Bremerhaven to Singapore.
The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigation revealed that the cause of the blaze was an electrical fault from an improperly disconnected battery equipping a used car. The vehicle was located on the second deck. The onboard crew was unable to control the fire as they had done on a previous fire incident starting on deck 3 a few hours earlier.
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