China's car exporters use flat‑rack and steel‑frame hacks to sidestep Ro‑Ro ship shortage

A surge in electric‑vehicle exports has left Chinese car makers facing a severe shortage of roll‑on/roll‑off (Ro‑Ro) vessels, the traditional ships that allow cars to drive on and off. To keep shipments moving, manufacturers have turned to alternative methods.

Leapmotor, backed by Stellantis, partnered with COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers to load vehicles onto flat‑rack steel frames. The cars are fixed to the frames, lifted by crane and placed on standard bulk cargo ships. Using this system, Leapmotor successfully shipped more than 1,800 vehicles to Brazil before distributing them through Stellantis’s logistics network.

COSCO has also developed fold‑up flat‑rack frames up to 14.6 m long that can be stacked up to eight layers, enabling a single vessel to carry over 1,000 cars without a Ro‑Ro ship. Container solutions are expanding as well, with a 40‑foot container fitting two to four cars.

While alternative solutions grow, Ro‑Ro ships remain central. BYD has begun operating its own dedicated Ro‑Ro fleet, and Hyundai Glovis runs three world‑largest PCTC vessels built in Chinese shipyards, each capable of transporting more than 10,000 small cars. These developments illustrate how Chinese exporters are reshaping maritime logistics to sustain global car‑export volumes.