In light of the boom in Chinese car exports, the shipping company Ningbo Ocean Shipping (NBOSCO) is also entering the car transport market. The ‘Clean Star’ set sail from China carrying over 5,000 vehicles.
The liner shipping division of the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port Group has confirmed the chartering of the ‘Clean Star’ – a newly built car carrier with an LNG dual-fuel propulsion system and a capacity of 7,000 CEU. The vessel is owned by Atlas EMF, a joint venture between the Greek shipping company Atlas Maritime and European Maritime Finance.
The “Clean Star” departed from the port of Ningbo on 5 August with 5,400 alternative-fuel vehicles (known as “NEVs” – New Energy Vehicles) on board. The route takes the vessel through the Suez Canal to the Italian ports of Genoa and Gioia Tauro, as well as to Barcelona in Spain. NBOSCO stated that it does not expect any Houthi attacks on Chinese vessels.
The Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan – now the world’s third-largest container port – is also taking the opportunity to expand its vehicle handling capacity. Since the start of 2026, car exports via the Port of Ningbo have risen, with shipments of NEVs in particular increasing sharply. In the first six months of 2026, the port exported 219,000 NEVs worth CNY 25.04 billion ($3.7 billion). This represents a doubling of both the export value and volume compared with the same period last year. The ‘Clean Star’, recently completed by the CIMC Raffles shipyard, has been chartered by NBOSCO for two years at a daily rate of $80,000.
The growth in Chinese NEV exports is driving demand for car carriers; charter rates for modern vessels are approaching the $100,000 per day mark. NBOSCO, which operates primarily on intra-Asian routes, ranks 23rd on Alphaliner’s ‘Top 100’ list of liner shipping companies and operates 89 vessels with a total capacity of 89,886 TEU, including 49 owned vessels.
After MSC, CMA CGM (via CEVA Logistics) and the South Korean company HMM, NBOSCO is the most recent liner shipping company to deploy car carriers. Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) show that nearly 5.1 million vehicles were exported in the first six months of 2026 – an increase of 65 per cent compared with the previous year. Exports of new energy vehicles (NEVs) exceeded 2.3 million units, more than double the figure for the previous year. (PL)
