The Load Star — 2026-08-07
Maritime and Ports
Ningbo Ocean Shipping, the liner shipping unit of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port Group, has joined the list of container carriers that have ventured into vehicle transportation.
The carrier has confirmed the charter of the Clean Star, a new 7,000 ceu LNG dual-fuelled car-carrier (pictured), from European owner Atlas EMF, for two years at $80,000 a day.
The ship left Ningbo port on Wednesday, carrying 5,400 new-energy vehicles (NEVs), to Genoa and Gioia Tauro in Italy and Spain’s Barcelona. The route establishes a Mediterranean automotive export channel for Chinese vehicle manufacturers into Europe.
Clean Star will sail through the Suez Canal, showing that the carrier is confident that the Houthis will not attack Chinese-operated ships.
Besides marking its entry into vehicle shipping, and extending its network to Europe for the first time, the move helps Ningbo-Zhoushan Port’s efforts to aggregate ro-ro cargo and strengthen its hub capabilities.
Since the beginning of this year, the port’s automobile export momentum has continued to improve, with strong growth in NEV shipments. In H1 26, 219,000 NEVs worth $3.7bn were exported from Ningbo, a year-on-year doubling of both export value and volume.
Booming Chinese NEV exports are supporting demand for car-carriers, with charter rates for modern vessels approaching $100,000 a day.
Primarily an intra-Asia carrier, Ningbo Ocean Shipping is ranked 23rd in Alphaliner’s top 100 liner list, operating 89 ships of 89,886 teu, including 49 owned vessels, and is now building 16 ships, amounting to 52,800 teu.
As Chinese vehicle exports continue rising, it is the latest liner operator to move into car-carriers, after MSC, CMA CGM (through Ceva Logistics) and HMM (as a tonnage provider).
China Association of Automobile Manufacturers statistics show nearly 5.1m vehicles were exported in H1 26 – up 65.3% year on year. New-energy vehicle exports exceeded 2.3m, more than double last year.