CIMC Delivered the First Dual-Fuel Car Carrier with a Capacity of 7,000 Vehicles

Recently, CIMC Raffles, a subsidiary of CIMC Group, delivered the first car carrier with a capacity of 7,000 vehicles for Zodiac Maritime, an international mainstream shipping company, at Longkou Base in Shandong Province. Named "BYD EXPLORER NO.1", the ship was chartered to BYD by the ship owner as the first ship of BYD's "going-out fleet".

The ship is also the first car carrier built by a domestic shipyard and specially used for the export of domestic cars, marking the opening of the era of "domestic car self-transportation", which will effectively guarantee the rapid delivery and expansion of BYD's overseas market.

Car carriers are Ro-Ro vessels specializing in loading all kinds of vehicles as well as heavy cargo, which are widely used for ocean-going car transportation.

BYD EXPLORER NO.1 has an overall length of 199.9 meters, molded breadth of 38 meters, a design draught of 8.6 meters, a design speed of 19 knots and a loading capacity of 7,000 vehicles. Equipped with two sets of C-type LNG storage tanks, the ship is a new generation of environmentally friendly ship, using green and clean LNG as the main fuel for the main engine and generator, which can significantly reduce the emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides. With a maximum range of 15,800 nautical miles, the ship is an energy-saving, environmentally friendly and efficient car carrier, and is classified by DNV Classification Society.

The ship arrived at Yantai Port at around 6:00 p.m. on 9 January and started loading at Yantai Ro-Ro Terminal. For the next stop, the ship will go to Xiaomo Port in Shenzhen for loading and then be destined to Europe.

Currently, China's new energy vehicle exports are booming, which directly drives the rapid growth of the related international shipping market. However, with the increasingly stringent requirements of environmental protection regulations, the global car carrier fleets are facing pressure to upgrade, leading to a serious shortage in the car carrier market, and even extremely difficult to book a ship.

With acute market insight, CIMC Raffles has grasped the opportunity and established a professional production line for car carriers at Longkou Base. With abundant orders at hand, it has become one of the mainstream car carrier construction bases in the world.