Hey,

In January 2024, a ship called BYD Explorer No. 1 left a Chinese port loaded with electric vehicles bound for Europe. It made the news briefly — a curiosity, a milestone, a symbol of China's EV ambitions.

Eighteen months later, BYD has five car carriers operational and eight on order. COSCO has 47 vessels in its orderbook. Chinese automakers and state shippers are on course to control the world's fourth-largest car carrier fleet by 2028 — up from eighth today.

This isn't a curiosity anymore. It's a structural shift in one of shipping's most profitable niches. And the companies that built that niche — Norwegian operator Höegh Autoliners among them — are now deciding how to respond to a competitor that didn't exist three years ago and is already building ships larger than anything in Höegh's fleet.