BYD plans to grow its own car-carrier fleet from eight ships to 18, citing expensive charters and war-disrupted routes, as its overseas sales climb fast.
BYD has been building cars faster than it can ship them abroad, so it is adding its own car-carrier fleet. It plans to grow from eight ships to 18 by 2029, each carrying about 9,200 cars and built by China Merchants Industry.
Freight costs are a big part of the reason. Wars around the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz have forced ships onto longer routes, and a carrier holding about 6,500 cars now rents for $95,000 a day, up from $50,000 in February.
Chinese owners control only about 10% of global car-carrier capacity, so most Chinese carmakers have to charter from foreign shipping firms. BYD sold 180,700 cars overseas in September, more than double a year earlier and nearly 40% of its monthly total.
Export pressure moves onto the ships
It has set a target of 2.5 million overseas sales next year, against 1.9 to 2 million this year. Meanwhile the home market is cooling: after tax breaks were cut, EV and plug-in hybrid sales fell 12% in the first eight months, and BYD's domestic sales dropped 33%.
Control play, or a statement?
Analysts disagree. Benchmark's George Whitcombe says controlling distribution has long been BYD's strategy, and rivals without their own fleets may struggle to expand when freight rises.
Felipe Munoz of Car Industry Analysis sees it differently: he argues the giant carriers are more a display, a way of showing the world BYD's speed and resources.
In the end, when Chinese cars go abroad, the contest is sometimes not about the cars but about who holds the ships.
Why it matters
Car-making rivalry is spreading into logistics: whoever controls shipping capacity sets the pace and cost of overseas expansion, while carmakers that rent ships hand their margins to the swings of the charter market.
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