On April 28th, the 8600 berth LNG dual fuel truck carrier "Hanwukou" built by Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding for CITIC Financial Leasing Company and COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers was named and delivered in Shanghai.
"Hanwukou "is the second automobile transport ship built by Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding. This named delivery signifies that the company has taken the field of automobile transport ships to a higher level and laid a solid foundation for the construction of 9000 and 10800 automobile transport ships in the future.
Wei Qiang stated that the "Hanwukou" is the second 8600 car automobile ship delivered by CITIC Leasing and Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in cooperation. The development of CITIC's automobile ship fleet has added new achievements, and it has witnessed China's speed and Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding quality. In response to the bottleneck of international shipping capacity supply faced by Chinese car companies in their internationalization development, CITIC Financial Leasing responded immediately by partnering with Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers to build three 8600 LNG dual fuel vehicle transport ships. With the supply of shipping capacity, it will drive the development and improvement of China's car companies' overseas supply chain system, and provide effective financial tools to safeguard their global development.
Zhang Wei expressed his gratitude to all parties for their attendance. The "Hanwukou" integrates the three core concepts of "green, intelligent, and efficient". Through innovative processes such as FGSS gas system technology research and integrated construction of liquid tank compartments, it achieves low-carbon ship life cycle, significantly reduces carbon emissions compared to traditional ships, and fully meets the third stage environmental protection standards of IMO 2025. It is a vivid practice of Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding and CITIC Leasing to achieve the "dual carbon" goal, contributing Chinese solutions to the low-carbon transformation of the global shipping industry. During the construction process of this project, Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding firmly implemented the management concept of "precision, refinement, breakthrough, and excellence". Based on the construction of the first ship, the construction efficiency of the "Hanwukou" vessel was significantly improved, ensuring the safety, quality, and rapid construction of the vessel.
Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding fully utilizes its experience in the construction and management of large cruise ships, combined with its own thin plate production facilities, production sites, and other characteristics, to successfully achieve rhythmic, batch, and branded production of automobile transport ships.
The "Hanwukou" is the largest and most environmentally friendly vehicle transport vessel operated by COSCO Shipping's fleet. The ship has a total length of 199.9 meters, a width of 38 meters, and a range of 28000 nautical miles. It is equipped with LNG dual fuel power and an electric RORO system, which not only significantly improves power efficiency but also effectively reduces pollutant emissions during navigation. It is a green and low-carbon ship type that meets the strict requirements of the International Maritime Organization for ship emissions. This ship has 14 vehicle decks, including 5 adjustable decks, of which 6/7 decks are continuously adjustable, with a maximum cabin height of 6.5 meters, making it easy to use specialized MAFI board roll on/roll off high-speed trains and other ultra-high engineering equipment vehicles. The standard parking space for this round is 8600, designed with tail jump and side jump, with a tail jump load of up to 250 tons, which can efficiently load various types of vehicles including commercial vehicles, engineering vehicles, buses, as well as new energy vehicles and MAFI cargo.
The "Hanwukou" is the third LNG dual fuel truck ship connected by COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers this month, and also the second ship in the 8600 berth series of truck ships. After delivery, it will be operated by Guangzhou Yuanhai Automobile Ship Transport Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers. Yuanhai is a public transportation platform under COSCO Shipping Group that specializes in international transportation of automobile ships.
The first voyage of the "Hanwukou" ship will be launched on the European shipping route for long-distance automobile ships, with plans to load more than 4800 commercial vehicles and engineering vehicles from brands such as BYD, Chery, Geely, Great Wall, Yutong, Liugong, etc., departing from Shanghai Haitong Port and heading to major European ports such as Southampton in the UK, Zeebrugge in Belgium, and Bremerhaven in Germany. This will effectively alleviate the strong demand for transportation capacity on European shipping routes and inject strong momentum of Chinese manufacturing into global automobile trade and green development of international shipping.
With the continuous expansion of the global automobile transportation market and the continuous promotion of green digital transformation, the demand for efficient and environmentally friendly automobile transport ships is also showing a rapid growth trend. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's automobile exports reached 5.859 million units in 2024. From January to March 2025, the automobile exports were 1.42 million units, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%, showing a sustained growth trend.
Adhering to the new development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing, in recent years, COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers has actively built an automotive logistics industry chain around customer needs, focusing on building a world-class green and efficient automotive transportation fleet. We have cooperated to order a batch of LNG dual fuel automotive ships and have successively connected 13 ships.
At present, the company operates 19 professional automobile ships, and the scale will grow to 26 by 2025. By 2026, the fleet operation scale will reach 30, ranking among the top in the world, with LNG dual fuel automobile ships accounting for 80%; The airline network has been opened to cover five major shipping routes including the Persian Gulf, Southeast Africa, Europe, South America West, and Mediterranean. Through the innovative combination of "new energy power + intelligent system", we provide global customers with low-carbon, environmentally friendly, safe and efficient end-to-end automotive logistics solutions, and continue to promote the green transformation of automotive logistics.
While actively building a world leading automotive fleet, COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers fully leverages its professional "soft power" advantages. Through the global transportation channel resource synergy of "shipping + port + logistics" of COSCO SHIPPING Group, it promotes the layout of key overseas regional nodes, continuously optimizes supply chain and channel construction, provides end-to-end automotive logistics supply chain solutions for global industrial chain partners, supports Chinese automotive brands to go global, and helps "Made in China" fully embrace the future of globalization.