BYD’s third ro-ro ship heads for Europe with 5,000 EVs

Chinese battery maker and electric carmaker BYD is heading for Europe with a brand new ro-ro carrier and 5,000 EVs on board. It’s the third giant car carrier and the second one it owns and operates itself, as the first one, the Explorer One, is leased from international shipping company Zodiac Maritime.

The BYD Changzhou was launched in October 2024 in Yantai. It is the second one after the Hefei, named after a Chinese city where BYD has factories. The Changzhou factory in eastern China started production in 2022. Five more ships, also named after BYD-producing cities, are in the works.

200 meters long

BYD Changzhou was built by CIMC Raffles and left port on November 29 for delivery to BYD. The ship is 199.9 meters long, has a beam of 38 meters, and has a deadweight capacity (DTW) of 18,0000 tonnes. Its maximum capacity is 7,000 vehicles.

These can be cars, trucks, buses, and railroad cars driven in a typical roll-on—roll-off system. However, for its maiden trip to Europe, the BYD Chngzhou carries only 5,000 cars.

BYD (Build Your Dreams) commissioned the first of what will become a fleet of seven giant ro-ro ferries with up to 7,000 cars to ‘fuel’ its expansion into Europe.

First set sail in January

In January of this year, the BYD Explorer 1 set sail from China’s southern city of Shenzhen to the Dutch port of Flushing and German Bremershafen with 5,449 EVs aboard.

BYD Explorer 1 was built by CIMC Raffles, a state-owned China International Marine Containers (CIMC) subsidiary. It is owned by international shipping company Zodiac Maritime, which leases it to BYD. Zodiac Maritime is headquartered in London and is owned by the Israeli Ofer family.