COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers Co, a unit of State-owned China COSCO Shipping Corp, will add 52 vessels, including car carriers, multipurpose and heavy-lift vessels, into its fleet by the end of this year, a senior executive said on Thursday.

This is driven by Chinese manufacturers' demand for transportation of wind power products, port machinery, railway transit equipment, new energy vehicles and energy storage devices, as well as demand for import of dry bulk goods by domestic companies.

The Guangzhou, Guangdong province-headquartered company said it will adopt new packing materials and digital solutions, as well as new services to better serve its customers in the years ahead.

"We will continue to leverage our global sales center, tonnage supply center and supply chain center to coordinate sales strategies across different markets and better manage global transportation resources, including vessels, containers and equipment," said Gu Weidong, vice-president of COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers.

At the same time, the shipping company aims to align operations among suppliers, carriers and service providers to achieve maximum operational efficiency in order to ensure a more streamlined and responsive global supply chain.

As one of the world's largest specialized shipping operators by fleet size, the company currently owns more than 170 vessels, including multipurpose and heavy-lift vessels, pulp vessels, semi-submersible ships, car and asphalt carriers. Its fleet is equipped to handle the transport of oversized and overweight cargoes, including oil rigs, engineering and port machinery, locomotives, wind power equipment, bridge cranes and port machinery.

As the world grapples with rising unilateralism and protectionism, COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers and its partners came to an agreement during its global partner conference held in Guangzhou in late March.

They will jointly build a high-quality development ecosystem for industrial chains — fostering symbiosis to mitigate risks, advancing together to drive upgrades and deepening cooperation to accelerate growth.

Gu said this industrial chain-based development approach will contribute to the high-quality advancement of the Belt and Road Initiative.

To meet the rapidly growing export demand for construction machinery and engineering vehicles, COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers has launched the 40-foot (12.5 meter) composite-material ultrawide flat-rack container to assist its customers in reducing cargo damage and discrepancies, lowering costs and enhancing operational efficiency.

This innovative container uses composite materials, significantly reducing weight compared to traditional flat-racks and greatly enhancing corrosion resistance, making it well-suited for high-salinity and high-humidity environments.

Gu said that the flat-rack container is designed for flexible loading of construction machinery, engineering vehicles and general cargo. Its standardized loading configuration improves handling efficiency, and enables multipurpose use with a single container.

In the automotive logistics sector, he said the company will upgrade its services offerings through digital and intelligent technologies to enable cross-regional integration and build an end-to-end industrial-level intelligent platform for Chinese automobile exports.