On November 26, at the Shanghai Haitong International Automobile Terminal located in Waigaoqiao, Pudong New District, Shanghai, 3,859 Chinese self-owned brand vehicles from FAW, SAIC, Chery, JAC, Dongfeng, Geely, and Great Wall took the "Jade" Heng Pioneer” set off for the Persian Gulf in the Middle East, and it is expected to arrive at Jebel Ali and Dammam ports in the Persian Gulf in about 17 days. This means that the "Shanghai-Persian Gulf" liner route for car ships has officially opened.
The main mode of transportation for the export of complete automobiles is sea freight. According to statistics, in 2021, the sales volume of Chinese automobile brands in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries will be nearly 200,000. In 2022, the car sales of Chinese brands in Middle Eastern countries will continue to maintain a steady growth trend. In the first half of this year, about 150,000 cars have been exported. The export of automobiles in the Middle East market has shown explosive growth, and the contradiction between the supply and demand of the transportation capacity of the Persian Gulf route has become increasingly prominent.
Zhang Guangfu, director of the International Business Service Department of FAW Import and Export Corporation, said that according to the development plan of China FAW's overseas business, the demand for car shipping capacity on the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and routes in Europe, Africa, and Latin America will maintain rapid growth in the next 3 to 5 years. The opening of the Persian Gulf liner route of Ocean Car Shipping Co., Ltd. has accelerated the coordinated development of China's global "production, transportation and sales" of automobiles, and provided a strong international transportation service guarantee for Chinese automobile brands to go overseas with high quality.
"Ocean Car Shipping Co., Ltd. opened the Persian Gulf route this time to meet the needs of car export manufacturers. It adjusted the capacity of the three 5,000-car car ships that originally operated the South American ocean route to the near-sea Persian Gulf route, providing two monthly liners. Transportation services can double the current limited capacity and efficiency, which is more conducive to the arrangement of sales plans, production plans, logistics plans, delivery plans, etc. by Chinese OEMs, and at the same time better guarantee the safety and stability of the supply chain of China's auto industry chain." Yuan Hai Zhu Guihua, general manager of the car shipping company, said.
China's auto exports have entered a period of rapid growth since 2021, and the export volume will reach 2.015 million vehicles in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 101.1%. The latest data shows that from January to October this year, China exported 2.456 million complete vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 54.1%, and the annual export is expected to be close to 3 million.
International transportation, as a key link in China's automobile overseas chain, is currently facing an urgent situation of insufficient transportation capacity, unstable transportation capacity and poor connection of logistics information.
It is reported that in order to alleviate the shortage of car shipping capacity in the Chinese market, Ocean Car Shipping has launched a new shipbuilding plan. From the second half of 2024, more than 15 LNG dual-fuel large car ships with 7,000-8,600 parking spaces will be successively invested. In order to ensure the safety of the export supply chain of China's auto industry, the ocean car ship will gradually expand its route coverage to Europe, South America, the Red Sea, Mexico, Australia and other regions.
"In terms of ocean-going car transportation export services, we cooperate with multiple parties to provide comprehensive logistics supply chain solutions such as containers, foldable car frame special classes, and engineering vehicle special classes for China's auto export." Zhu Guihua introduced.
Guangzhou Yuanhai Car Shipping Co., Ltd. is a third-party car logistics supply chain company jointly invested and established by COSCO SHIPPING Special Transport, Shanghai Port Logistics and SAIC Anji Logistics. As a common carrier of car ship international transportation, it provides supply chain logistics services for Chinese car exports. As early as 2005, COSCO SHIPPING (the predecessor of COSCO SHIPPING Special Carriers) the car special vessel "Fuquankou" opened an international route from China to the Persian Gulf at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Haitong Wharf, carrying domestic cars for the first time to the Middle East.
Seventeen years later, COSCO SHIPPING returned to this route again, providing liner services for the export of Chinese commercial vehicles to the Middle East. Compared with the previous ones, the scale of transport capacity invested this time is larger, and the liner route will continue to operate stably for a long time, which will bring valuable new opportunities and new momentum for Chinese auto companies to accelerate their overseas expansion and internationalization.
