Trainee reporter An Yufei
On October 24, a "behemoth" about 230 meters long was bathed in the warm sun at noon and slowly entered the Taicang section of the Yangtze River.
Its name is "Jinling 99". It is a ro-ro passenger ship built by China Merchants Jinling Shipping (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. It will start its sea trial journey with the Yangtze River as its starting point.
While it sailed into the Yangtze River, there were more than 700 car carriers around the world, either traveling through the vast sea or docked at the noisy wharf. Oceanic cars.
Car carriers, like ro-ro ships, are also important members of ro-ro ships.
Today, the car carrier has become a well-deserved "sea money printing machine".
According to Clarkson's research data, since August 2020, the one-year rental level of a 6,500-space car carrier has increased from US$10,000/day to US$90,000/day, an increase of up to 8 times.
Because of this, a new round of "ship grabbing boom" has been launched around the world.
In the first eight months of this year, 43 new car carriers have been transacted worldwide, the highest since 2008.
Since the beginning of this year, SAIC Anji Logistics has placed orders for several car carriers.
The relevant person in charge of CIMC Group told reporters that in the first half of this year, CIMC Raffles added 3 orders for automobile carriers, and in the second half of the year, 4 orders were added.
The hot market is "a rare encounter in ten years"
At present, the global car carrier market is going through a fiery market that is "once in ten years".
Clarkson's research data shows that in May 2008, the one-year rental of car carriers reached US$52,500/day, setting a historical record.
But by October of this year, the above rent level had risen to $90,000 per day, an increase of more than 70% compared to the peak price in 2008.
At the same time, the number of orders in the new ship market also hit a ten-year high.
Data shows that in 2021, a total of 38 orders for car carriers will be signed worldwide.
But in the first eight months of this year, 43 new orders for car carriers were signed worldwide, surpassing the figures for the whole of last year.
Why is the car carrier market so hot?
A relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles told the Securities Times reporter that it was mainly driven by two factors: the boom in automobile exports and the replacement of automobile carriers.
"In the first three quarters of this year, auto exports have exceeded 2 million units, catching up with the level of last year. Before 2021, my country's auto exports will remain at the level of around 1 million (units) for a long time. " said the person in charge.
According to data from the China Automobile Association, from January to September this year, my country's automobile enterprises exported 2.117 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 55.5%.
"China's auto manufacturing capacity, including export level, and the trans-ocean transportation capacity of automobiles are seriously incompatible. In this field, Chinese shipowners or logistics companies are still in their infancy." The relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles "But China's (car carrier) manufacturing and design capabilities have completely kept up, which is an important reason why the demand for auto carriers has grown significantly, while major orders are all in China," he said.
In response to the auto export boom, some enterprises have also carried out the transformation of "domestic trade to foreign trade".
On the evening of October 23, China Merchants Steamship announced that the company has recently started the transformation of some ships to meet the relevant requirements of ocean transportation.
Among them, the 5000-class "Changtaihong" recently completed the relevant transformation and left the factory. It is expected that the follow-up ship change certificate, nationality certificate, minimum manning certificate and international operation record will be completed in the near future, and it will be officially put into foreign trade operations.
Vessels are actively updated
Strong support for orders
Although orders for new ships for car carriers have increased significantly, there are also views that there is a hidden worry of "overcapacity" in global shipping. The current shortage of shipping capacity is just because many ships are "blocked in ports", which does not mean that there is a real shortage of new ships.
So, in the field of car carriers, is there a shortage of new ships?
The relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles believes that in addition to the surge in the export volume of automobiles, the demand for "regeneration" of automobile carriers also provides a solid foundation for the surge in industry orders.
According to the relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles, most of the traditional car carriers only burn diesel, while the new orders for auto carriers are low-emission, dual-fuel or multi-fuel configurations.
Because the concept of "green shipping" is being advocated all over the world, the design concepts and related technologies of newly built car carriers will be greatly developed and updated.
According to Clarkson's research data, in the first half of this year, a total of 28 orders for automobile carriers were signed in the world, all of which are LNG (liquefied natural gas) fuel power solutions (some orders are also reserved for methanol).
According to Clarkson's research, driven by the green agenda of the entire industry chain in the automotive industry, fleet renewal of car carriers has become the focus of current and future fleet development.
The relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles said that Europe and other places have established Emission Restriction Areas (ECAs), which have higher requirements on emissions.
In addition, in international waters, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) also has new emission requirements, and the trend is becoming more and more stringent. For example, LNG, a transitional alternative fuel, is now more advocated. Compared with traditional marine diesel fuel, whether it is carbon dioxide or sulfur , nitrogen-related emissions will be greatly reduced.
It is understood that from January 1, 2023, the new IMO regulations on technical and operational measures to reduce the carbon intensity of international shipping will take effect.
Xingyue, general manager of Clarksons Research (Shanghai), said in an interview with reporters that the shipping industry carbon emission regulations that will take effect in 2023 will greatly affect the replacement of the global fleet.
"Clarkson has recorded that all car carriers from 2021 will use LNG dual fuel. In addition, there are 8 newbuilding orders that meet methanol/ammonia fuel reservations at the same time; 4 ships also meet ammonia fuel reservations." Kozuki said.
The hot market for export of new energy vehicles also puts forward higher requirements on the load capacity and safety of car carriers, which promotes the upgrading of car carriers.
According to data from the China Automobile Association, in the first three quarters of this year, my country exported 389,000 new energy vehicles, a year-on-year increase of more than double.
The relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles said that new energy vehicles have different requirements for the vehicle deck, fire protection, ventilation and other configurations of the car carrier, such as the fire protection system and ventilation system, according to the configuration of the traditional car carrier, if there is an accident on the ship It is difficult to effectively extinguish fires in situations such as fires, but newly built car carriers will fully consider these requirements.
Generally speaking, in terms of load, new energy vehicles such as trams are generally heavier due to the existence of batteries.
"At present, the orders received are all related to the design, configuration and adjustment (of the car carrier) in accordance with the requirements of new energy vehicles." The person in charge said.
Why has China become the main force in shipbuilding?
Among the 43 new ship orders for automobile carriers that were transacted globally in the first eight months of this year, the market share of Chinese shipbuilding companies in newbuildings reached 82.3%, ranking first in the world.
Behind this is the rise of a large number of Chinese shipyards such as CIMC Raffles, China Merchants Jinling and Guangzhou Shipbuilding International.
If you turn the clock back a few years, you will find that China is not very good in the field of car carrier manufacturing, which has long been dominated by Japan and South Korea.
The relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles said that there are currently more than 750 automobile carriers in the world, of which more than 50% are manufactured in Japan, nearly 20% in South Korea, and about 10% in China.
However, the production of the new batch of car carriers is mainly in China, which has almost won more than 80% of the new orders.
Why can my country surpass Japan and South Korea in new shipbuilding?
The relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles believes that China's construction is generally fast and efficient, and the production capacity of the shipyard is easier to form a large batch, and it also has a price advantage.
These advantages benefit from the accumulation of the past years.
"In recent years, the domestic supply chain has also grown up, such as the core main engine, propulsion system, propeller, ro-ro equipment, plus LNG dual-fuel gas supply system and other core equipment, the domestic can basically achieve independent supply. ."
Xingyue believes that Chinese shipyards have a cost advantage.
The current quotations from Japanese and Korean shipyards are 15% higher than those of Chinese shipyards.
At the same time, from the perspective of shipbuilding production capacity, the production capacity of Japanese shipyards has continued to shrink in recent years, while the industrial concentration of South Korean shipyards is relatively high. The main shipyards focus on large LNG ships, container ships and oil tankers.
Therefore, Chinese shipyards have certain competitive advantages in the field of automobile carrier manufacturing.
The rise of China in the field of automobile carrier manufacturing is also inseparable from the "counter-attack" in the field of design.
The relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles said that at present, a new batch of new ship orders, domestic design units have fully developed, forming a "local design + local manufacturing" model.
Today, the "number one player" in the field of transport ship design is Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute, which occupies more than 60% of the global market share.
"In the early 2000s, when Chinese cars wanted to be exported, they didn't have their own ships. At that time, we rented Japanese ships, and the rent was very expensive. It might cost thousands of dollars to ship a car. China just said, we want to make our own car carrier." The relevant person in charge of Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute told reporters.
According to the introduction of Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute, my country's automobile exports used to rely mainly on the spare space of shipping companies in South Korea, Japan, Norway and other countries, so that the freight rate has remained high, which weakened the competitiveness of my country's automobile exports.
In 2006, the Ministry of Commerce organized 17 key automobile manufacturers such as FAW and Chery to sign a 15-year strategic cooperation agreement with China Ocean Shipping Corporation to build China's own automobile transportation fleet.
The above-mentioned person in charge said that the design of the car carrier is relatively difficult. In terms of stability, its windward area is particularly large, which is one of the reasons why some foreign ships have suffered accidents due to strong wind and waves.
"As the first institute in China to design a car carrier, the Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute has gnawed on this difficult bone," said the person in charge.
According to the official WeChat account of "China Shipbuilding", South Korea's H-Line Shipping Company has recently placed an order for three 8,600-space LNG dual-fuel vehicle carriers (PCTC) from China Shipbuilding Corporation.
The ship was developed and designed by Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
So far, Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute has undertaken a total of 55 PCTC design orders this year, with a global market share of 67%, ranking first in the world.
"Full Rise" Still Takes Time
Although my country is at the forefront of the world in terms of design and manufacturing, in terms of current shipping capacity, China has not yet entered the "first echelon" and the fleet is relatively small.
According to a report by Clarksons Research in mid-September this year, there are 756 vehicles in the global car carrier fleet with 4 million parking spaces, and the average size of the ship is 5,300 parking spaces.
The Chinese shipowner's own car carrier fleet has a fleet capacity of 51 vehicles, including 9 orders for 7,600-carriage space vehicles and 2 large car carriers with 7,800-car spaces that will serve foreign trade transportation (to be delivered in 2024/2025).
It can be seen that the capacity of Chinese shipowners for car carriers only accounts for about 5% of the total global capacity (excluding undelivered orders).
So, why does China take 60% of the market in the design field and 80% of the orders in the manufacturing field, but it lags far behind in terms of transportation capacity?
Xingyue said that China's auto industry has experienced a stage of rapid expansion after joining the WTO, and in 2009 it became the world's largest auto producer.
However, historically, China's auto exports have been small in scale and accounted for a low proportion.
Compared with major auto exporting countries such as Japan, South Korea and Germany, it is still in its infancy.
Before 2021, the capacity of China's automobile carrier fleet will be mainly domestic trade transportation.
However, with the current batch of new ship orders from Chinese shipowners and car companies delivered in the following years, the size of the Chinese fleet will grow.
The relevant person in charge of CIMC Raffles also said that the booming of China's new shipbuilding market only started last year. For Chinese shipowners and shipping companies, it is still in its infancy, and there is a long way to go for development.
"In the background, with the increase of China's exports, shipping, as an important part of the supply chain, will receive more and more attention. Under the influence of environmental regulations and other factors, the fleet of car carriers owned by Chinese shipowners will There are opportunities for rapid development." Xingyue said, "but we should also realize that when Chinese companies enter the professional international market of the shipping industry, there are still many things to learn. Compared with the major international operating shipowners, they The business models of cooperation and competition that have been accumulated for a long time can be used for reference.”