RORO (Roll-On, Roll-Off) Car Carrier Vessels
RORO (Roll-On, Roll-Off) Vessels feature specially constructed vessels that allow cargo to be loaded and unloaded through doors in the ship's hull. Cargo moves in and out of the vessel on wheeled loading devices or under its own propulsion (as in a motorized vehicles). It looks the same as a ferryboat, which goods and containers can be driven usually via a ramp. Beneficiaries of this system include higher efficiency to manage loading and discharging (easiness and quickness of cargo handling) than air freight and containership delivery. Ro-Ro and container vessels look very much alike, from a hull form design point of view, with one exception. Ro-Ro vessels with a stern ramp require special consideration due to the large widths of the transom, which complicates the hull design.
Ro-Ro ship has the characteristics of convenience, speed, large transportation capacity, and flexible loading. It has the advantages of high unloading efficiency, safe cargo, no dependence on port lifting equipment and strong adaptability. All goods are basically packed in the cabin, and there are very few cases of loading on the deck (except multi-purpose vessels). In the actual international trade of vehicles and machinery, especially in the case of a letter of credit, a clean bill of lading can be issued.
The military advantages of RO/RO ships include the capability for rapid loading and discharge of military vehicles and non-self-deployable aircraft, and open deck areas well suited to the carriage of outsized military cargo. Their military disadvantages include their relative unsuitability for carriage of sustaining supplies and ammunition (in comparison with general cargo and containerships) and their limited availability, because their market sector is much reduced compared with containerships.
Most American military transport ships are ROROs, and European militaries are increasingly looking to the commercial market for stand-by RORO assets. It was only with the new century that China acquired a domestic supply of RORO ships. With China's growing automobile export market, the Chinese RORO fleet can be expected to grow in the future. RORO ships are an essential component to the American style of long range global power projection. Historically, as a continental power, China has not had a call for such a capability, and Chinese RORO ships [in contrast to their ROPAX vessels] have not been publicly exercised in a military role, as of 2012.
Regarding how these civilian ships load and unload cargo over long distances, a method similar to inland river transportation can be used, using another flat-bottomed boat as a trestle to allow vehicles and cargo to drive directly to the shore. Of course, larger offshore platforms can be used for this purpose. For transportation work, such as floating docks, vehicles can wait for commuter vehicles (such as high-speed mechanical landing craft) to and from the shore for transportation after landing on the floating dock. For example, the U.S. Navy's Expeditionary Mobile Base Ship (ESD) has similar functions.
This kind of operation requires the use of ro-ro cargo ships to carry pontoons and operating derricks. Therefore, strictly speaking, the use of private ro-ro cargo ships to support the equipment required for amphibious warfare equipment and special beach operations actually started in the practice of this kind of operation. Homework ideas. But no matter what, it is still quite complex to complete all the operating procedures, and it is also quite challenging.
The use of private ro-ro cargo ships to support amphibious transportation can be traced back to 2001, when the National Defense Mobilization Committee of Mainland China began to formally order the study of offshore unloading platforms on amphibious beaches; in other words, it is to use pontoons to build trestle unloading facilities to facilitate the implementation of amphibious strategies. During an operation, when the port facilities in the target area are damaged by garrison forces, rendering them completely unable to operate or operating energy is limited, pontoons can be used to construct station bridge unloading facilities to provide follow-up echelon troops for amphibious assaults, making unloading more reliable and convenient. Operation so that it can overcome the beachhead water barriers, smoothly pass through the beach area, and engage in combat operations.
The initial media reports in China in 2012 showed that these operations have been verified through military exercises, but the relevant test progress was probably faster than the process of public announcement. The Military Channel of China Central Television reported on June 20, 2014 that the Guangzhou Military Region was conducting an amphibious warfare exercise, and that civilian ships were used for the first time to conduct actual troop loading and unloading exercises in a formal system at the Zhanjiang area amphibious training ground. Not only were the troops recruited in Hainan. The "Nanfang No. 6" ro-ro cargo ship in the Haikou area of Dao Island often served as a ferry in the Qiongzhou Strait. In addition, it also towed a floating dock as an intermediary platform for the connection between the ro-ro cargo ship and the pontoon-type trestle, allowing passage to various types of tracked armored vehicles. The vehicle can be unloaded smoothly and drive to the beach area through the floating dock and pontoon trestle to complete loading, transportation and unloading operations. In 2018 there was a public demonstration of Dual use naval asset, merchant fleet and military integration. 20,000 gross tonnage roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ship ChangDalong, with 2000 regular auto capacity. RORO engineering standard upgraded to support transport of MBT and other armored vehicles.
Plaque translation:
- Carrying out national defence requirement of 20,000 ton car ro-ro ship.
- 140.5 m long
- 24.4 m wide
- 8 level car parking
- 3rd and 5th level of aft/rear section is 4.5 m high. Suitable for carrying heavy military equipment.
- Developed and installed kitchen, restroom, shower modules/containers and other support facilities to satisfy troop and crew living requirements during voyage.
- Addition of helicopter platform, life saving, and firefighting equipment
- Reserved military command and communication equipment interface connections
After carrying out national defence requirements, the ship is capable of long distance delivery of two fully equipped mechanised battalions. The ship is a "Dalong" passenger rolling ship built to implement national defense requirements. The ship has an 8-deck vehicle deck, a helicopter take-off and landing area, and a military command post and long-distance life support equipment are reserved; equipped with a first side thruster, two tail side thrusters, and good maneuverability. The ship usually carries out the cargo task of the Weifang Yingkou route.
The China Shipping Group Bangchui Island roll-on/roll-off cargo ship on the CCTV military channel as early as 2019, focusing on the unloading and unloading operation of this type of armored vehicle at sea. ; At the same time, the American think tank The Jamestown Foundation also published an analysis article on the People's Liberation Army's amphibious operations capabilities in July 2020.
At the end of September 2022, USNI News used images taken by commercial satellites on August 31 this year to report that the People's Liberation Army Marine Corps used civilian ships to launch a submarine in the waters near the mouth of Futou Bay, Gulei Town, Zhangpu County, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province. The unloading of amphibious landing armored vehicles has aroused close discussion among military observers from all sides. Although some commentators in the aforementioned reports believed that mainland China used civilian ro-ro cargo ships and allowed amphibious armored vehicles to be unloaded directly in the sea, which was an amphibious exercise that began in the summer of 2021; and this time it can also be confirmed that civilian ships It can directly unload and recover the ZTD-05 amphibious armored vehicle with a loading weight of up to 26 tons at sea.
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a cross sea troop transport exercise in July 2023 using a large ferry ship, which could play a vital role in large-scale amphibious landing missions. During the integrated military-civilian long-range power projection exercise, a brigade affiliated with the PLA Navy used a roll-on/roll-off, or ro-ro, passenger ship with a displacement of tens of thousands of tons to transport troops in the Bohai Sea, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on 23 July 2023.
v The brigade divided its troops into multiple combat groups based on personnel and equipment, and used the ship to transport the entire unit in a single voyage. According to the CCTV report, multiple types of military vehicles, including off-road tactical vehicles, wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, trucks and jeeps together with a large number of troops, took the Chang Shan Dao ro-ro passenger ship during the drills. Having doors and ramps at both the bow and stern that enable vehicles to enter and exit without turning around, the Chang Shan Dao has a length of 167.5 meters, a width of 25.2 meters and a displacement of 23,000 tons, according to the website of the COSCO Shipping Ferry Co Ltd, the operator of the ship.
The exercise tested the PLA Navy troops' capabilities to carry out maritime transport under special conditions, CCTV said. It is common for the PLA to practice troop transport with large ferry ships. Official media reports have been covering such exercises since 2021. Such an approach is also common in amphibious landing tasks around the world. With a limited number of dedicated amphibious landing ships, ferries could join maritime transport missions in large numbers once sea lanes and ports are secured.
COSCO Shipping Ferry Co., Ltd., under the state-owned shipping conglomerate COSCO, operated ten large passenger RO-RO ferries in the Bohai Gulf. COSCO Shipping Ferry provided service for PLA transportation support for over 25 years. It continued to provide its vessels as a “transport group” of the PLA’s strategic projection support shipping fleet, In 2016, the company reported having installed a number of new features into four of its ferries, in response to new national defense requirements. The report suggested the Long Xing Dao and the Yong Xing Dao were among the modified vessels, built in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Noted modifications included rapid egress corridors for personnel and some small equipment, and new hydraulically driven systems to enable greater stern ramp extension for moving amphibious armor on and off the vessel at sea. By 2023 at least seven COSCO passenger RO-RO ferries had the ability to conduct offshore launch of amphibious combat forces using a temporarily installed stern ramp that uses hydraulic ram assemblies and hinged preventer stays.
Domestic ro-ro ships, as a powerful tool for both military and civilian purposes, can provide an effective amphibious warfare option. As the geopolitical competition in the Asia-Pacific becomes increasingly fierce, the Chinese People's Liberation Army is gradually increasing the frequency of joint exercises with civilian ro-ro ships to improve its amphibious warfare capabilities. The Chinese People's Liberation Army holds integrated military-civilian long-range power projection exercise in which a 10,000-ton ro-ro ship is the core transportation force of a brigade participating in the exercise. Therefore, mastering the right to speak on ro-ro ships not only helps the export of new energy vehicles, but is also related to the Great Maritime Wall of the motherland.
Zhang Jing, a senior researcher of the China Strategic Society, noted in 2022 that there is no obvious sign that the mobilization of pontoons, trestles, boats and armored vehicles to support amphibious operations has been carried out so thata the operational civilian ships can serve as a transport platform for unloading amphibious armored vehicles in the first wave of amphibious assaults. In particular, by observing the satellite imagery of such evolutions, the civilian ship was carrying out unloading and retrieval and loading operations in the offshore waters of the target beach area. It seemed that they were all administrative transportation tasks for the follow-up echelon of troops and were not, for example, braving fierce enemy artillery fire in the beachhead target area and serving as a transport platform for the first batch of amphibious assault troops.
The landing of the first echelon of the People's Liberation Army has actually become highly amphibious and high-speed. In addition to the ZBD-05 series of high-speed amphibious assault vehicles, there are also hovercrafts and new high-speed mechanical landing craft LCU (middle picture) that can reach a high speed of more than 30 knots. , in addition, Type 071 and 075 large amphibious ships are also in service in large numbers, and they also play an important role in rapid landing and beachhead consolidation. It is important to mention that the above-mentioned LCU, which can drive to more than 30 knots, has been put into mass production and seems to be expected to replace more than a hundred slow-speed landing craft in reserve or storage, based on past design indicators. With full fuel and a full load, returning to and from the strait after refueling does not seem to be a problem.
Zhang Jing concluded that amphibious armored vehicle platforms that take the lead must basically be amphibious ships designed and built specifically for amphibious operations. As for the recruitment of civilian ships to carry out various loading and unloading operations in conjunction with amphibious assaults, regardless of the types of vehicles and boats they transport, their maximum potential will only be limited to transporting echelon troops for subsequent missions, and the chance of them serving as the vanguard is probably still minimal.
RO-RO - Background
The first large, high-speed roll-on-roll-off vessel ever built in China was christened the "Stena Foreteller" in 2002 in the port city in Liaoning Province, northeast China. The 12,300-ton vessel was built by Dalian Shipyard for Swedish shipping company Stena. The vessel was up to the advanced level of the ship-building technology for ro-ro vessels, and the first of its kind built in China. The shipyard was building two similar vessels for the Swedish company. With automatic navigational capabilities in heavy gale winds, the vessel can travel at speeds of up to 23 knots per hour and carry up to 500 trucks.
The largest Ro-Ro built in China up to 2004 was built in by HuangHai Shipyard in RongCheng city of ShanDong province. These two large ships are the largest Ro-Ro designed and built in China. It has an overall length of 160m, tonnage of 20000dwts speed of 20.5 knots. It has a capacity of 2000 vehicles and 1300 passengers. And it can resist the grade 8 typhoon in Bohai Bay so that it can meet the international lines demands. The 14,250 ton Deadweight 4000 Roll-On/Roll-Of Car Carrier is built as a single screw, diesel driven roll on/roll off car carrier, intended for carrying a wide variety of vehicles. The vessel has 9 tiers of decks car stowage, and the part of 10th deck to be also used for car stowage. Motor cars can be loaded/unloaded by driving themselves through outboard side door/ramp at No.4 deck amidship on starboard side, and quarter ramp at No.5 car deck aft on starboard side. The 6th and 8th deck are liftable.
In 2004 China set a target of exporting automobiles and components worth 70 to US$100 billion a year by 2010. If successful, the exports would account for 40 percent of total automobile and component sales in China at the time. China's auto exports hit a record high of 340,000 units in 2006, more than double 2005's figure.
In August 2006 a strategic alliance was established by between the China Ocean Shipping Corporation [COSCO], the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation and the country's major automobile exporters. This was to facilitate the communication among domestic exporters and to curb vicious competition through price cuts. At that time China's automobile output accounted for about 10 percent of the world's total, but its export volume represented less than one percent. COSCO Group started to develop its own carriers after signing a 15-year car shipping strategic cooperation agreement with 17 domestic carmakers, including Chery, JAC and Chang'an in 2006. Even during the most difficult period of the global economic crisis, COSCO never gave up the development plan. Labor and material costs in the Chinese shipbuilding industry are lower than those in Japan, South Korea and European countries, where COSCO previously rented car carriers, so the shipping costs will fall once the company manages its own fleet.
The first “China design and build” Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) vehicle carrier was launched on June 24, 2009 at Zhoushan shipyard marking a major advance in China’s building capability. The China Ocean Shipping Company "COSCO Spirit" has a fully loaded displacement of 14,500 tons, capable of carrying 5000 vehicles with a design speed of 20 knots. Its dimensions are: 182.8 meters in length, 32.2 meters in width and 34 meters high. It has a total of 9 stationary and 3 adjustable decks to accommodate vehicles of different heights. Just like other modern RoRo’s, the COSCO Spirit is fully automated and allows for single-crew-piloting. COSCO cited the increase in automobile imports as the sole reason to build such a fleet and indeed in January 2009, China surpassed the US as the world’s largest car market.
Designed by the Shanghai Design Institute and manufactured at the China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co (COSCO) Zhoushan shipyard south of Shanghai, COSCO Tengfei and COSCO Shengshi deliver Chinese-made cars to South American countries and carry European cars on the return trip. The MV COSCO Tengfei car carrier, which can hold up to 5,000 cars and trucks, departed from Shanghai's Waigaoqiao port in the Pudong New Area in June 2011. This was the second delivery by this type of vessel following a successful shipment by MV COSCO Shengshi in February 2011. The carriers, 182.8 meters in length, 32.2 meters in width and 14.95 meters in depth, have a deadweight tonnage (DWT) of 14,500. Equipped with three adjustable decks, they can hold cars of different heights. Each of the two ships cost $53 million.
The Chinese shipbuilding industry has intensified the export of ship newbuildings. A large number of customers are from Europe and especially Germany. One of the major design companies working for the Chinese shipyards is the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute, CSSC (SDARI). The portfolio of SDARI covers a wide variety of ship types and sizes, including designs for a 2,000 car ro-ro ship [140.5 meters long], 5,000 vehicle ro-ro ship [182.8 meters long], 6,700 car ro-ro ship [199.9 meters long], and 8,000 car ro-ro ship [227.9 meters long]. Established in 1964, Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI) is a ship design consultant under China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). SDARI has extensive experience in designing various types of ships, e.g. bulkers, container ships, tankers, multi-purpose vessel, RoRo, offshore engineering vessel and etc., and has accumulated more than 800 as-built designs in the past four decades. SDARI provides the entire range of service from the conceptual development to the workshop drawings and is the market leader in respect of ship design and development in China. Growing together with the Chinese ship-building industry, SDARI has been gaining good reputation in the world shipping and shipbuilding market, and with continue her endeavors in providing safe, environment-friendly, reliable and cost-effective designs.
The resources of ro-ro ships are not in the hands of China's ocean shipping companies. The ships are mainly registered in Japan and South Korea. By 2024 there were more than 700 car ro-ro ships worldwide, and the car transport ro-ro ships operated by Chinese shipowners numbered only 51 ships (including some undelivered orders), accounting for less than 10% of the total global shipping capacity. The Chinese market planned to export 2.3 million cars to Europe this year, but it was expected that ro-ro ship capacity in 2023 can only meet half of the demand.
Since August 2022, car transport ro-ro ship capacity has declined, greatly pushing up costs for carmakers, chronic underinvestment in ships and tight capacity have driven up ro-ro rates. The lowest point for car ro-ro shipping in mid-2020 was US$10,000/day, and it has been rising since then. By October 2022, the one-year rental level soared to US$90,000/day. Compared with 2020, car ro-ro shipping The price has increased by a full 8 times. In the final analysis, it is due to the serious imbalance between supply and demand of transportation capacity. The freight rates in the international ro-ro transport market continue to rise, causing headaches for many automobile companies in China. Compared with gasoline vehicles, new energy vehicles are larger in size and weight and require more space and load tonnage on ro-ro ships. Therefore, even with the same transportation volume, new energy vehicles also need to occupy more capacity of ro-ro ships.
In April 2023, the State Council, China's cabinet, in a plan aimed at boosting foreign trade, encouraged auto manufacturers and shipping companies to better connect and cooperate by signing long-term transport contracts. To expedite car exports, leading Chinese electric carmaker BYD Co has chartered cargo ships, and first such ship has set sail for Europe, according to media reports.
In order to cope with the transportation needs brought about by rapid overseas expansion, leading car companies began to build ships: In January 2022, SAIC Group signed an agreement with China State Shipbuilding Corporation to customize two ocean-going ro-ro ships with 7,600 parking spaces; in March, SAIC Anji Logistics is bidding for the construction of three natural gas dual-fuel vehicle carriers with 7,800 parking spaces; BYD has announced plans to spend 5 billion yuan to build 6-8 dual-fuel vehicle carriers with 7,700 parking spaces. Only a few countries in the world can master the construction technology of ro-ro ships. China is one of the few countries that independently develops giant ro-ro ships. Moreover, as a manufacturing power, our country currently has strong strength in the construction of ro-ro ships.
The Leno Traveler, a ro-ro ship developed and built by China for Sweden, has 14 parking decks and up to 8,500 parking spaces. It can also quickly adjust the vehicle's height with the help of its multi-layered height-adjustable decks and internal ramps. The upward channel effectively improves loading efficiency. Not only can it transport ordinary cars, but also heavy-duty trucks, and even some yachts and large agricultural equipment can be easily installed. It adopts the latest and most environmentally friendly power system and is equipped with an active nitrogen oxide degradation system, which fully complies with European standards.
Ship manufacturing has always been a relatively well-developed industry in China, and the independently developed giant ro-ro ships will definitely become a world benchmark. RoRo ships have advantages in transportation scale and space utilization, but they still need to rely on ports for efficient loading and unloading. Therefore, in addition to ro-ro ships, ports and other facilities must also be supported. Shanghai is the leader in automobile manufacturing in the Yangtze River Delta. Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port Area Haitong Terminal, as the largest ro-ro automobile terminal in the country, is responsible for the task of exporting automobiles, with routes all over the world.
Auto Exports - Background
In 2009 China overtook the United States to become the world's top auto maker and market, boosted by government stimulus measures. Annual sales rose 46.15 percent year-on-year to 13.64 million units. Output increased 48.3 percent to 13.79 million units. Passenger car sales were up 52.93 percent to 10.33 million units, and production was 10.38 million units, up 54.11 percent year-on-year. The brisk sales in China is in contrast with the United States where 10.43 million units were sold last year, 2.8 million units less than in 2008, as the global financial crisis kept US consumers out of the showroom. In 2009 the Chinese government outlined its auto export strategy for maintaining steady growth in the auto export industry. It expected to achieve an annual 10 percent growth from 2009 to 2010 and a 20 percent growth in 2015. By 2020, Chinese auto exports will account for 10 percent of total international auto trade.
China's automobile export market is still very much in the infancy stages, with its present target markets being Southeast Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. The country still requires a strong international brand. From January to July 2010, the production and sales of automobiles both exceeded 10 million, up by 44 percent and 43 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year, with the growth rate dropping 5 percent.
By 2011 growth in the automobile industry in China was slowing, and the gap between vehicle exports and imports continued to widen. During the first five months of 2011, China exported 225,400 cars, an increase of 56.7 percent over the same period in 2010. Among them, the top five brands are Chery with 55,200 units, Chang'an Auto with 35,100 units, JAC with 28,100, Great Wall Motor Co Ltd with 26,800, and Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd with 24,600. According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) statistics, passenger vehicle imports in August totaled 316,177 units, 83 percent higher than 2010, while exports from that month hit a record 223,776, 37 percent higher than 2010. CAAM officials attributed the deficit to recovery in overseas markets, as well as the state of the domestic market this year.
As the world's biggest car market, China consumes the overwhelming majority of the cars made in the nation. By 2011 about 5 percent of the cars are exported to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa and South America. This is up from one percent five years earlier.
By January 2024 Chinese shipyards were busy producing ro-ro vessels to match the nation's newfound strength in the emerging field of vehicle exports. China's vehicle industry reached several milestones in 2023, with record production and sales, according to industry data released last week, paving the way for the country to potentially become the world's largest car exporter. Auto exports hit 4.91 million, up a whopping 58 percent year-on-year, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) showed. With such a robust figure, China is expected to have become the world's biggest car exporter last year. Chinese shipyards were running at full throttle to keep up with demand from shipping companies as well as auto manufacturers.
Jinling Chuanbo, a domestic shipyard under China Merchants Industry Holdings Co, had an order backlog up to 2027, the People's Daily reported. Taicang Port in East China's Jiangsu Province is handling 7,000-8,000 vehicles per month, and in December the figure shot up to nearly 30,000, the report said. The port is investing more than 2 billion yuan ($281 million) to build the largest automobile ro-ro wharf along the Yangtze River, with an annual shipping capacity of 1.3 million units.
Eddie Zhang, operational director of COSCO Shipping Car Carriers, which is a leading car shipping company in China, told the Global Times that his company has ordered 24 ro-ro vessels, which are expected to enter service by the second half of 2024, in light of the bullish outlook for the fast-growing market.
In December 2023, the construction on a new vessel H1600 began at a domestic shipyard under Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co, Zhang said. These vessels, each able to carry 7,000-8,600 vehicles, are powered by low-emission liquefied natural gas. "We expect to have a fleet of roughly 30 ro-ro vessels capable of shipping 700,000 cars abroad annually after all these new ships join our fleet," Zhang said.
Due to a confluence of factors, China's car exports exploded in recent years. . Chinese brand new energy vehicles: BYD, Cyrus, Xpeng Motors and other Chinese car companies have become a "new force" at auto shows. Chinese new energy vehicle manufacturers are obviously more competitive in the new value chain. In 2022, exports hit about 3.11 million units, compared with 2 million in 2021 and 1 million in 2020. To cope with the gap between immediate demand and the time needed to build new vessels, which is nearly 15 months, shipyards are tapping digitalization, technological innovation and existing capacity to carry the load.
China's new energy vehicles have attracted young consumers in overseas markets and are conquering overseas markets with strong momentum. The export of new energy vehicles has hit new highs, which is good for the automobile transportation industry. However, the limited ro-ro ships have become a transportation bottleneck. The long-standing mismatch between supply and demand of automobile export capacity has been exposed. China's ro-ro ship capacity is indeed not enough to support China's export development needs of new energy vehicles and batteries.
How to alleviate the current transportation "bottleneck" in the export of domestic automobile companies and how to expand export transportation capacity? The most direct way is of course to build ships. However, shipbuilding takes time. The construction cycle of ro-ro ships is generally about two years. A stopgap solution is to transport cars in containers, which is referred to as "loose-to-consolidate" in the industry.
For car transportation companies and logistics businesses, containerised transport has not been a cost-effective option for a long time. Many reasons are given for this, including its low transport capacity (only two cars per container without racking) and high cost per unit. Attempts to increase container capacity through internal racking have historically been frightfully inefficient, relying on temporary wooden constructs that are burnt or recycled after a single use. For these reasons, RORO shipping transport has been the standard method for getting cars to different locations around the world, but this is changing.
By 2024 nearly 60 percent of the automotive vehicles were shipped abroad using a system called open car racking, according to a manager at Taicang Port. The method allows dry bulk cargo ships to carry vehicles. Container ships seem to be the way forward for car transport, especially with more vessels hitting the seas every year, and a strengthened commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability across the sector.
Cosco, a Chinese-owned operator and one of the largest shipping lines in the world, launched initiatives for 2023 for the automotive logistics businesses. The new 48ft open flat racking system designed to carry three cars, and capable of loading at the container terminal and transfer by crane onto a container ship.
The rack is composed of a bottom pallet and four support columns whose lower ends are fixed to the four corners of the bottom pallet and whose upper ends are connected and fixed to each other. Each rack is an open sided structure that can be stacked three high, for a total carrying capacity of nine cars, at a height of three standard shipping containers. It’s an impressive new product and seems to combine some of the benefits of RoRo shipping with some of those of container shipment – and the target market seems to be FVL businesses migrating over to container shipping from Ro-Ro for the first time.
Cars shipped by flat racking system are still exposed to the elements at sea, increasing the risk of damage. Once racked and ready to go, cars are completely visible at the car terminal and container terminal until they can be transferred to the ship, making them prime targets for vandalism and theft.
A containerised racking solution may be more efficient, safer, and more secure than loadingr vehicles onto open racks. Car carriers are container storage units made specifically for transporting cars over long distances. They come with foldable sides that help the car fit snugly inside the container without the risk of damage or removal from the site. These racking solutions are more certified, more extensively tested through practical experience, and have more proven engineering quality than the new solutions from Cosco. They are a safer bet for risk conscious car shipping businesses. A good containerised racking system, on the other hand, can accommodate up to four cars, and are perfect for mixed vehicle consignments of different sizes and models.
In November 2022, a China-Europe train carrying 100 Dongfeng Lantu new energy vehicles departed from China Railway Interconnection Wuhan Central Station and exited through Erenhot Port to Europe. As of May 2023, at least 17 provinces and cities There are special China-Europe freight trains. The disadvantages are that the China-Europe freight trains had insufficient transportation space and high costs, so they are not a long-term solution. The long-term solution, in the final analysis, is ro-ro ships.
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