Car and truck carrier market to cool amid overcapacity driven by Chinese supply

Pure car and truck (PCTC) contractual activity fell to lowest levels in years as the Chinese market has driven overcapacity of supply to global demand.

Shipping solutions provider AXSMarine’s reported that despite deliveries recorded at an all-time-high, the global market is not expanding as quickly as the Chinese domestic market.

The Chinese shipyard industry is under growing strain to balance supply with their orderbook accounting for more than one-fifth of the world’s PCTC capacity.

Trade developments

It was highlighted that the supply of such carriers have increased, disproportionately to the amount of vehicle trade across the globe.

AXSMarine reported that despite deliveries reaching an all-time high of 75 vessels in 2025, contractual activity declined to its lowest level for years after four years of record orders.

“The PCTC market has entered a phase in which fleet growth is increasingly at odds with underlying trade developments,” Splash247 quoted AXSRoRo’s newsletter.

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Chinese dominance

Shipyards in China still hold the majority of deliveries from 2023 to 2028, responsible for 80 percent of 276 PCTC deliveries.

Despite the fast-growing vehicle exports by China, a large portion of this growth is deemed to be changing rather than expanding the global auto trade, as reported by AXSRoRo.

“Rising Chinese exports are substituting for shipments from traditional producers,” the AXSMarine newsletter added.

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Expansion to adjustments

Records still show high volume of deliveries for the past three years, having 133 PCTCs of one million car equivalent unit capacity, along with 67 carriers this year.

“Unless demolition picks up more decisively, utilisation and earnings are likely to come under pressure,” the newsletter noted.

The shipping solutions provider foresees the market to focus less on expansion and prioritise adjustments in different ways, attempting to curb the carrier to vehicle trade ratio.

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