The BYD Shenzhen slipped its moorings from the southeastern Chinese port of Xiamen in late November to embark on a high-stakes journey across the Pacific with 1,768 new electric vehicles onboard. The mission: get to Mexico before recently announced tariffs on Chinese imports kicked in on Jan. 1.
After sailing through stormy seas on a hastily-plotted route, the freighter arrived at Lazaro Cardenas seaport on Dec. 21, saving the world¡¯s largest EV maker millions of dollars in duties. That it did so with time to spare, at a time when others were scrambling to charter any cargo ships, was a testament to why one of the largest private fleets in China¡¯s auto industry gave BYD an advantage over competitors during turbulent times.
With the Iran conflict roiling freight routes and sending shipping rates soaring, BYD¡¯s fleet of eight carriers is coming in handy again as the company bets on exports to pull it out of a yearlong earnings slump. Born out of necessity in 2022 in the wake of the Covid pandemic, when BYD realized it couldn¡¯t count on ships for hire, the Chinese company is now able to ferry about 300,000 cars worth billions of dollars a year to Africa, Europe, Latin America ¡ª and even the Middle East.
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