On November 26, after loading 3,859 Chinese self-owned brand vehicles including FAW, SAIC, Chery, JAC, Dongfeng, Geely, Great Wall and other brands, the ship "Yuheng Pioneer" of Yuanhai Automobile Shipping Co., Ltd. departed from Shanghai Haitong International Automobile Terminal. The departure to the Persian Gulf in the Middle East marks the official opening of the first liner route from Shanghai to the Persian Gulf for the Chinese car fleet.
With the increasing volume of China's automobile exports, the demand for sea transportation of automobile exports has also risen rapidly. However, due to insufficient transportation capacity and the lack of independent and controllable large-scale automobile fleets, it can be said that it is "difficult to find a cabin" for automobile sea transportation. my country's automobile exports are in the midst of Being "stuck" by the shipping link.
Cars going to sea face "three major barriers"
After my country joined the WTO, especially since 2003, the export of complete vehicles has grown rapidly. The export volume of automobiles has risen from less than 30,000 in 2002 to 680,000 in 2008. The export volume has increased by more than 20 times, with an average annual growth rate of 81%. . In the following years, the number of exports fluctuated. In 2016, it began to enter a period of slow growth. From 2018 to 2020, it has remained at more than 1 million vehicles in the three years.
In 2021, under the influence of multiple factors such as the epidemic, when the global auto industry is in a downturn, my country's auto exports will enter a period of rapid growth against the trend, with the export volume reaching 2.015 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 101.1%. This year, my country's auto exports continue to maintain a strong growth momentum. From January to October, 2.456 million complete vehicles were exported, a year-on-year increase of 54.1%. The export volume surpassed that of Germany and ranked second in the world!
However, international transportation, as a key link in the overseas chain of Chinese automobiles, is currently facing the urgent situation of insufficient transportation capacity, unstable transportation capacity and poor connection of logistics information, which has become a "stumbling block" for the globalization of Chinese automobile manufacturers. According to Zhang Guangfu, director of the International Business Service Department of FAW Import and Export Corporation, my country's auto exports mainly include car carriers, container ships, China-Europe trains, and road car transportation. Among them, the shipping volume of sea transportation ranks first, and the car carrier is the most important method.
With the rapid increase in China's auto export volume and export market coverage, Chinese auto companies' demand for the supply and supply of car carriers is increasing day by day. At present, the insufficient capacity of global car carriers and the uncertainty of shipping schedules have seriously affected the overseas delivery cycle of Chinese car companies; at the same time, high freight rates have also greatly increased costs. Insufficient transport capacity, unstable transport capacity, and high freight rates have become the three major barriers that hinder my country's cars from going overseas.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, car companies deeply felt that among the many factors affecting car shipping, "safety" has surpassed "price" and become the most important factor for car companies. If there is no stable, safe, and timely logistics guarantee, it may affect the overseas delivery of national vehicles, which in turn disrupts the production plans and overseas strategies of auto companies, resulting in heavy losses.
The "National Automobile National Transport" can control the initiative of automobile export transportation in its own hands, provide stable transportation capacity and freight support for Chinese auto companies' exports, and will further accelerate the pace of integrated development of global "production, transportation, and sales" of Chinese brands. Effectively enhance the overseas competitiveness of Chinese auto brands. Therefore, the "National Car National Games" is the most urgent expectation of Chinese car companies at present.
"National Car National Games" has become an urgent expectation
In 2021, affected by the new crown epidemic, global ro-ro resources will be extremely tight. Clarkson's "2021 Shipping Market Summary and Outlook" report pointed out that in 2021, the one-year rent of car carriers will increase by 103%, and severe port congestion in many places will lead to a shortage of actual active shipping capacity in the market. Enterprises are under great pressure. Zhang Guangfu introduced that the current cost of transporting cars to sea has increased by 3 to 4 times compared with 2020, and this figure is still growing.
In this context, my country's auto exports have also been superimposed on the plight of long-term dependence on foreign shipping companies. It is understood that the strength of automobile shipping is positively related to the scale of domestic automobile exports. Due to the strong performance of Japan and South Korea, especially Japan, the global automobile shipping market has long been monopolized by several large automobile shipping companies such as Japan, South Korea, and Europe and Norway. According to Zhu Guihua, general manager of Guangzhou Yuanhai Car Shipping Co., Ltd., there are currently more than 700 professional car ships in the world engaged in shipping, and only about 10 Chinese car carriers are engaged in international transportation. Japanese and Korean companies account for more than 40% of the market share of car shipping. , Japan, South Korea and Europe together accounted for more than 70%.
Talking about the reasons why my country's automobile shipping is relatively backward, Zhu Guihua analyzed that, on the one hand, it is related to the small scale of my country's automobile export market for a long time. On the contrary, since the 1950s, Japan has vigorously deployed the automobile industry. In the 1970s, the export volume had exceeded 4 million. At that time, Japan began to get involved in automobile shipping. The long history of development has enabled Japanese companies to have a deep understanding of the automobile shipping market. accumulation.
On the other hand, it is also related to the long-term adoption of the principle of "tendering and bidding" by Chinese car companies in the selection of car shipping capacity. The rapid growth of Japanese automobile and ship transportation companies has benefited from the strong support of Japanese car companies for their business. They often sign cooperation agreements lasting 20 to 30 years, and their business development is deeply bound. However, China's automobile shipping started late, and there is a lack of large-scale automobile shipping companies. In order to save costs, car companies tend to "won the bid at the lowest price" when choosing transportation capacity. The contract signed by the transport charter) relies on the freight rate, and competes at a low price in the Chinese market, making the freight rate far below the reasonable cost level, further eroding the living space of domestic transport companies.
"Because of the disorderly market competition and the lack of support from local car companies, shipping companies have obviously underinvested in car ships over the years, which has led to the current shortage of China's own shipping capacity," Zhu Guihua said.
China shipping company in action
In order to solve the difficulty of national car shipping, China's local shipping companies are taking action.
In August this year, based on sufficient market research, COSCO SHIPPING Special Transport, SIPG, and SAIC Anji Logistics jointly established a third-party automotive logistics supply chain company——Guangzhou Yuanhai Auto Shipping Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as COSCO Auto Shipping Company) . As early as 2005, COSCO SHIPPING (the predecessor of COSCO SHIPPING Special Carriers) the car special ship "Fuquankou" opened the international route from China to the Persian Gulf at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Haitong Wharf. Foundation.
Zhu Guihua introduced that the establishment of a new joint venture company is the first step, and the second step is to fully mobilize resources from all parties to ease the pressure on automobile shipping. On the one hand, the capacity is increased by adjusting the route configuration. For example, in response to the needs of automobile export manufacturers, the capacity of the three 5,000-space car ships originally operating on the ocean routes in South America will be adjusted to the near-ocean Persian Gulf route, and two monthly liner transportation services will be provided, which can increase the current limited capacity and efficiency by 1 Times, more conducive to Chinese OEMs to arrange sales plan, production plan, logistics plan, delivery plan.
On the other hand, COSCO Car Shipping Co., Ltd. cooperates with its shareholder—COSCO SHIPPING Group’s global container liner routes, the world’s leading pulp fleet, and the world’s leading general cargo fleet to jointly provide containers and foldable car frame specialists for China’s auto exports. Comprehensive logistics supply chain solutions such as special shifts and special shifts for engineering vehicles. COSCO SHIPPING Specialized also created a method of using a special frame for commercial vehicles to be shipped on a pulp ship, that is, to customize special frames of different specifications, which can load different types of export commercial vehicles, including cars, SUVs, heavy trucks, buses, etc. , shipped by hoisting.
But Zhu Guihua also said frankly that these transportation methods can only solve the urgent need, "the less action is taken on the car, the better the transportation quality." Therefore, to fundamentally solve the shipping problem, we still need to rely on professional car ships.
To this end, the Ocean Car Shipping Company has launched a new shipbuilding plan. From the second half of 2024, it will successively invest more than 15 large LNG dual-fuel car ships with 7,000-8,600 parking spaces. With the delivery of new capacity, the Ocean Car Shipping Company will Gradually expand the coverage of routes to Europe, South America, the Red Sea, Mexico, Australia and other regions to ensure the safety of the export supply chain of China's auto industry.
Master foreign skills to the world stage
With the improvement of China's auto product quality, technology, brand, and service, and the advantages of pure electric vehicles, Fu Bingfeng, president of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, predicts that this year's annual auto exports are expected to be close to 3 million. Many industry experts also judge that my country's automobile exports will show explosive growth in at least the next 3 to 5 years, which is undoubtedly a great benefit to the development of my country's automobile shipping industry.
But while ushering in great opportunities for development, car shipping companies also have their own concerns. Zhu Guihua bluntly said that the price of a car boat exceeds 100 million US dollars, and the investment can be described as huge. At present, in the case of a shortage of shipping capacity, most Chinese car companies have expressed their support for the development of China's own fleet. However, foreign fleets are also stepping up to compete for the Chinese market, and it is expected that there may be excess capacity after 2025.
For this reason, Zhu Guihua appealed that the shipping cycle has peaks and troughs. In the future, if there is a surplus of shipping space, Chinese shipping companies will adjust prices according to market conditions, but also hope that domestic car companies will give priority to supporting their own fleets. If domestic car companies restart the "low-price bidding" mode at that time, the huge investment in China's shipping companies will undoubtedly cause a serious blow, which will further dampen the development of China's car shipping industry and cause China's own transport capacity to fall into a vicious circle of shortage again.
At the same time, it is worth noting that car companies are also building ships. It is reported that BYD may spend a huge amount of money to order as many as eight ro-ro ships that can carry 7,700 vehicles, and the total cost of the shipbuilding order is close to 5 billion yuan; according to sources familiar with the matter, Chery Automobile also made multiple contacts on ordering car carriers , NIO is also planning to build a car carrier.
Zhang Guangfu said that China FAW will vigorously support the development of China's own fleet and grow together with China's transportation capacity. He hopes that China can cultivate one or two international large-scale car transport fleets to serve global car brands. He further suggested that Chinese car companies and Chinese fleets should cooperate closely, even at the capital level, to build an independent and controllable international car transportation platform; strengthen the exchange of shipping technical standards to avoid waste of resources.
Logistics-related experts from the Development Research Center of the State Council also pointed out that automobile shipping is a completely market-oriented behavior. When there is a shortage of transportation capacity, automobile companies will inevitably strengthen cooperation with overseas transportation companies; The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of my country also pointed out that we must adhere to a high level of opening up. Therefore, Chinese transportation companies should carefully review the capacity allocation experience of Japan, South Korea and other countries when exporting cars, and strengthen high-level opening up and cooperation; at the same time, car companies should also make reasonable transportation plans, optimize the layout of overseas warehouses, and jointly promote Chinese brand cars are heading for the international market.
