Guangzhou - COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers Co, a unit of State-owned China COSCO Shipping Corp — based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province — will add more than 80 vessels with different functions into its fleet over the next two years, said a Senior Executive recently.

Driven by the upgrading and diversification of China’s foreign trade products, these new ships, including 24 car carriers with operational capacities between 7,000 and 8,600 units, 20 pulp carriers and a number of heavy lifting ships, will expand COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers’ fleet capacity to over 10 million deadweight tons by 2026.This expansion will further bolster China’s ability to secure its supply chain.

The majority of the company’s new vessel orders have been placed with domestic shipbuilders, including Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd based in Fujian province and Jiangsu province-based Chengxi Shipyard (Yangzhou) Co Ltd.

Huang Nan, president of COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers, said the company will closely follow the global trend of industrial and supply chain development, continuing to maintain capacity updates through multiple channels.

As one of the world’s largest specialized shipping operators by fleet size, the Chinese firm currently owns more than 140 vessels, including multipurpose and heavy lift vessels, semisubmersible vessels and asphalt carriers. Its fleet is capable of transporting oversized and overweight cargoes, including oil rigs, engineering and port machinery, locomotives, windmills, bridge cranes, and complete equipment to ports of call worldwide.