Geely's 1st self-operated car carrier goes into service

Geely has begun operating its own car carrier fleet, with the commissioning of its first self- operated vessel.

Jisu Fortune will carry more than 5,000 vehicles on its maiden voyage to Europe.

Geely Auto (HKG: 0175) has put its first self-operated car carrier into operation, joining local peers including BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) in starting to operate its own fleet.

The auto giant's logistics company Jisu Logistics saw its first ro-ro vessel, Jisu Fortune, set sail on its maiden voyage at the port of Suzhou in eastern China's Jiangsu province on May 22, according to an announcement by the port.

The ship will carry more than 5,000 vehicles to European countries including the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium, according to the announcement.

Join us on or

Jisu Fortune, the first owned ro-ro vessel of Jisu Logistics -- a wholly owned subsidiary of Geely -- has an overall length of 199.9 meters, a beam of 38 meters and 7,000 standard loading spaces.

It has 12 decks, all of which can carry fuel cars and lithium battery vehicles, and decks 11 and 12 can also transport new energy vehicles (NEVs) powered by hydrogen and natural gas.

The ship uses clean LNG fuel as its main fuel and is equipped with two sets of 2,000-cubic-meter LNG storage tanks, which can significantly reduce emissions such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, according to the announcement.

The announcement did not mention further details, but Jisu Fortune was chartered to Jisu Logistics by London-based shipowner Zodiac Maritime Ltd, according to a report yesterday in Xinde Marine News, a maritime information service.

BYD Explorer No. 1, the first vessel in BYD's fleet, and another vessel, BYD Changzhou, were also chartered from Zodiac Maritime, according to the report.

BYD, which has become one of the Chinese car companies with the largest self-owned fleet, saw its seventh car carrier launched last week.

BYD is China's largest NEV maker, though Geely is seeing rapid growth in the sector.

Geely was No. 2 in China's NEV market in January-April with 440,592 retail NEV sales and a 13.3 percent share, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).

BYD was No. 1 in China's NEV market with retail sales of 964,940 units and 29.0 percent share during the same period.

Correction: Zodiac Maritime is based in London. A previous version incorrectly described it as an Israeli company.