CIMC Raffles delivers dual-fuel car carrier with 7,000 parking spaces

This ship is also the first car transport ship built by a domestic shipyard and specially used for the export of domestically produced cars. It marks the beginning of the era of "self-transport of domestic cars" and will effectively protect BYD's overseas market. Rapid delivery and expansion. At the same time, the successful delivery of this project further consolidates the international leading position of my country's shipping companies in the field of car carriers and opens up a new path for my country's car companies to expand their production capacity overseas.

Car carriers are ro-ro ships specially designed to carry various types of vehicles and heavy cargo. They are widely used for ocean-going car transportation.

BYD EXPLORER No. 1 has a total length of 199.9 meters, a width of 38 meters, a design draft of 8.6 meters, a design speed of 19 knots, and a loading capacity of 7,000 vehicles. The ship is equipped with two sets of C-type LNG storage tanks. It uses green and clean liquefied natural gas as the main fuel for the main engine and generators, which can significantly reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. It is a new generation of environmentally friendly ships. The ship has a maximum cruising range of 15,800 nautical miles. It is an energy-saving, environmentally friendly and efficient car transport ship, and is classified by DNV classification society.

The ship arrived at Yantai Port at around 6 pm on January 9 and berthed at the Yantai Ro-Ro terminal to start loading. At the next stop, the ship will go to Shenzhen Xiaomo Port to load trucks before heading to Europe.

At present, China’s automobile industry is “catching up with Germany and Japan”, especially its outstanding performance in automobile exports. According to statistics from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Japan's automobile export volume from January to November 2023 was 3.99 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 15%. The annual export volume in 2023 is expected to be approximately 4.3 million vehicles. This means that in 2023, China will surpass Japan and become "the world's largest automobile exporter."

China’s export of new energy vehicles is booming, which has directly driven the rapid growth of the related international shipping market. However, due to increasingly stringent environmental regulations, the global car transport fleet is facing the pressure of upgrading, resulting in a serious shortage in the car transport ship market, and it is even difficult to find a ship.

CIMC Raffles has keenly grasped market opportunities and deployed a professional car carrier production line at the Longkou base. Currently, there are sufficient orders on hand., has become one of the world's mainstream car carrier construction bases.

Li Minggao, Vice President of CIMC Raffles, said that BYD car carrier EXPLORER No. 1 is the first ship of CIMC Raffles’ 7000 parking space series car carriers. In the future, we will continue to strengthen technological innovation. , adhering to lean management, working with all parties to jointly contribute to global low-carbon emission reduction and green shipping.