The fourth ro-de group of the Chinese group took the sea: the largest in its category, with a length of 219 meters. Within the first months of 2026, Byd will have a fleet with eight ships
It is a real peaceful invasion, especially towards Europe but not only. If you want to understand the weight of a new automotive world player, as by Byd, just follow the departures of its great-cargo ships which, technically, are called Ro- (i.e. roll-on/roll-off: are the ships where containers are loaded horizontally and not vertically) and bring thousands of carswithout problems. Within about fifteen days, the Hefei ship took the sea with 5 thousand Plug-in electric and hybrid cars And the Shenzen ship, which bears the name of the city where the headquarters of the Chinese group is based. On board there seems to be over 9 thousand cars: for both ro-ros, this is the first trip of a long series, given the ambitious byd projects that aims within the first months of 2026 to have one Fleet of eight ships. If Hefei and the “sisters” previously launched, Explorer No. 1 and Changzhou, measured just under 200 meters, the last born Shenzen beats every record: is 219 meters long and 37.7 meters wide with a 9 -meter draft. For analysts, it would be The largest cargo for the transport of cars never builtcapable of moving up to 9,200 cars at a time, sailing at 18.5 knots.
Crazy growth
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The enormous acceleration of byd on the sea must not be surprised, explained for two reasons. The first is that the Chinese brand is going very well, even outside the homeland: In 2024 he exported about 420 thousand cars with a growth of 71.9% compared to the previous year, e The prospects for 2025 they are still superior. The second is that the sensational investment, even for a giant like Byd, makes sense on the long term because The daily cost to rent a car door is around $ 120,000about seven times the average price until 2019. Moreover, another Chinese giant like Saic Motors is also working to have a owner fleet, betting on the increase in future sales. All to the delight of those who build these incredible ships which, despite the size, are among the most ecological ever. Indeed, they have a double power supply: the engines can work a lot with the traditional marine diesel as with liquefied natural gas (LNG) which is composed almost entirely of methane. The plus are the energy storage batteries that fuel the on -board services, however lower than the crazy ones requested by the latest cruise ships, which move the ship to the docking maneuvers or in the low pollution areas, so from reduce emissions.
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