Markets: Ascendant China Boosts Vehicle Carrier Trades

An unprecedented level of investment in multi-deck vehicle carriers is being driven by tonnage replacement and scale economy strategies, but emphatically also by explosive growth in China’s automotive exports.

Global deep-sea automotive shipments, excluding the Russian trade, were estimated at some 15.6 million units in 2025, up 5 percent on 2024, maintaining recent years’ trajectory. China’s inexorable rise as a producer and exporter is the conspicuous influence on traffic development.
Notwithstanding the impacts of sometimes fraught political relations between the USA and China, and between Europe and China, and the prevailing Middle East conflict, China’s expansion in electric vehicle (EV) manufacture and increased penetration of new and emergent markets around the world is fundamentally influencing global logistics, shipping capacity, and service offerings.
Data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) points to a huge proportional increase in Chinese vehicle exports between 2024 and 2025, up from 4.7 to 5.7 million units. In the opening quarter of 2026 alone, 2.2 million vehicles were exported from China, more than 50 percent higher than the comparable period of the year before, and with a considerably increased EV component of some 950,000 units.
Shipments from South Korea and Japan have levelled off, but the relative stability in numbers is widely regarded as a signal of competitive strength in the face of the Chinese challenge and US tariffs.
At the same time, with exports out of Europe down by around 5 percent, trade flow imbalances are increasingly evident. Thus, despite the rapid pace at which newbuilds are coming out of the yards, burgeoning Chinese exports in combination with an accentuated east-west trade volume disparity continues to absorb fleet growth.

First of the Shaper generation. Dual-fuel main power, designed to operate on methanol in the future. (courtesy of EUKOR Car Carriers).

PCTC and deep-sea ro/ro newbuild deliveries in 2025 were in the order of 70-75 vessels, and the ensuing fleet capacity increase at 13 percent was the highest in nearly two decades. Although forecast to be at a lower level than last year, the anticipated completion rate remains elevated, at some 50 ships per annum through 2026 and 2027, while recent contracts have extended the workload into 2029.
The headline figures for the uplift in the overall capacity of the global fleet, though, exaggerate to some extent the practical impact in terms of actual carrying capability because the basis for measuring vehicle carrier intake—car equivalent unit (CEU)—has not changed since the 1960s. The RT43 definition dating from that time used the Toyota Corona sedan as the yardstick, making for a unit of 4.125 metres length x 1.550 metres width, occupying a stowage space of 4.425 metres x 1.850 metres.

Over the intervening period, average car length, width, height and weight has increased, and substantially so in recent years with the evolution and proliferation of SUV-type models, and the emergence of hybrid and fully battery-electric autos.  

Flexibility in cargo mix has long been a distinctive feature of the long-haul ro/ro vessel, to provide for all types of wheeled or trailer-borne freight, including all types of vehicle, equipment, machinery and plant under the ‘high and heavy’ designation.

Incoming generations of PCTC as well as multipurpose ro/ro vehicle carrier give new expression and dimension to load versatility, while responding to the evolution in the automotive industry’s product mix. The most salient influences on cargo space design are the trend towards larger and heavier autos, and the market uptake of hybrid and fully-electric vehicles.    

Although demand for ‘high and heavy’ cargo space has been affected by weaker construction activity and farming industry problems around the world, shipping operators report business buoyancy in the mining equipment segment and enhanced prospects arising from infrastructural developments.  

While established Scandinavian and other European players in the deep-sea ro/ro and PCTC domains have continued to raise their game, Chinese carriers such as BYD, SAIC Anji and COSCO have extensive fleet enlargement programs under way, embracing some of the biggest vessels to date. Newbuild investment by South Korean chaebols is also at a very high level.

The handover in April this year of the 10,800 CEU Glovis Leader marked a further milestone for China’s shipbuilding industry, hoisting operational PCTC capacity ratings to a new level. The commissioning denoted the start of a 12-vessel program entrusted to Guangzhou Shipyard International by Hyundai Merchant Marine on the strength of long-term agreements with Hyundai Glovis, the shipping and logistics specialist of the Hyundai Motor Group.

Glovis Leader has a 14-deck arrangement, sized and configured to accommodate the gamut of vehicles and equipment produced under the Hyundai and Kia brands, and fitted to meet the particular requirements for the safe transportation of current and future models of electric vehicles. Hyundai Glovis has been to the fore in implementing measures in response to concerns over the additional fire risk and response issues presented by battery-electric vehicles, and special equipment introduced aboard the fleet has included fire covers and water mist lances.
LNG dual-fuel, low-speed main machinery from the Everllence B&W portfolio, in the form of an eight-cylinder S60ME-C10.5-GI, has been nominated for the 10,800 CEU type.  

Hoegh Moonlight, sixth in Hoegh Autoliners' 12-vessel, flagship Aurora class. The final four newbuilds will be able to operate on ammonia fuel. (credit: Hoegh Autoliners).

Hoegh Autoliners opened its 12-ship Aurora-class PCTC program in 2024 with the introduction of the 9,350 CEU Hoegh Aurora, constructed by China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu). By early 2026, the eighth sister had entered service.

As well as exerting scale economies, the design stands out by virtue of its more environmentally-considerate, efficient powering, using Everllence B&W two-stroke main machinery able to burn either LNG or MGO while incorporating methanol- or ammonia-readiness. Moreover, the final four Aurora newbuilds, all due in 2027, will each offer an immediate capability for operation on ammonia, by way of a seven-cylinder model of the Everllence B&W S60ME-LGIA dual-fuel engine.

The 14-vessel, Shaper-class generation now entering service with EUKOR Car Carriers, the jointly owned shipping line of Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Hyundai Motor Group, is also testament to the PCTC segment’s emergence as a proving ground for advances in two-stroke propulsion. Series-leader Arctic Tern and her sisters in the first tranche of contracts were each contracted from China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jinling) with a methanol dual-fuel main engine, while subsequent vessels will be equipped with LNG dual-fuel engines and design-prepared for ammonia.  
The initial order for Shapers stipulated a 9,350 CEU capacity, but subsequent additions to the program were upgraded to 11,700 CEU, before a further design revision was made so as to provide a record-breaking 12,100 CEU in the final eight units of the series. The hull envelope has accordingly been enlarged from 228 x 38 metres to 234 x 40 metres.  

A preoccupation among operators with ensuring long-term environmental responsibility is not only driven by legislative pressures and corporate agendas: automotive industry customers are increasingly scrutinizing carbon footprint throughout the logistic chain.