MSC car carrier arm orders four more LNG dual-fuel newbuilds in China

MSC-controlled Global Car Carriers (GCC) has added four 8,600 ceu LNG dual-fuel car carriers at Chinese yards, expanding its newbuilding programme to 26 vessels worth a combined 217,200 ceu of nominal capacity. Two ships will come from Zhoushan Changhong International Shipyard, both scheduled for completion in 2030, while China Merchants' Weihai yard will deliver the remaining pair in 2031.

GCC, based in Oslo, has not disclosed the contract prices for the new units. All four vessels carry capacity for 8,600 vehicles each and LNG dual-fuel propulsion, according to the company's updated fleet records.

How large is the orderbook now?

The additions split GCC's programme into 22 vessels of 8,600 ceu and four of 7,000 ceu. In pure vehicle-slot terms, the latest four ships add another 34,400 car spaces to the schedule and push GCC's delivery window out to 2031.

That marks the second expansion in quick succession. Splash reported in October that GCC had added two 8,600 ceu car carriers at Changhong, bringing the orderbook at that point to 22 ships. The new orders lift the count by another four hulls within roughly a quarter.

What sits behind the ordering spree?

The expansion has gathered pace since Mediterranean Shipping Company acquired the Oslo-listed Gram Car Carriers in 2024 in a transaction worth around $700m. The Aponte-controlled group subsequently took the company private, and the former Gram Car Carriers adopted the Global Car Carriers name earlier this year.

The programme now ranks among the sector's largest fleet renewal drives, anchored firmly in Chinese yard capacity. Changhong and China Merchants' Weihai facility between them hold the near-term delivery pipeline through 2031, with slots stretching three to six years out from today.

What does it mean for carriers and shippers?

For MSC, the orderbook deepens an already aggressive diversification beyond container shipping into vehicle logistics, locking in modern tonnage with dual-fuel propulsion ahead of tightening emissions rules. For rival car carrier operators, GCC's 26-ship programme adds competitive pressure on trade lanes where capacity has been tight since the pandemic-era shortage of ro-ro slots.

Automotive shippers and forwarders stand to gain from the eventual supply: 217,200 ceu of new, fuel-flexible capacity entering the market between now and 2031 should ease the space constraints that have periodically inflated vehicle shipping rates. The pace of those deliveries, however, is back-loaded, with the newest orders arriving only in 2030 and 2031.

The timing reflects both yard availability and MSC's conviction that vehicle seaborne demand will sustain. With deliveries scheduled into 2031, GCC has signalled that its fleet renewal is a multi-year commitment rather than a cyclical bet, and further orders at Chinese yards remain a live possibility as the group continues to scale.