News / Import restrictions may put the brake on PCTCs bringing EVs from China

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Europe’s environmental targets are to keep deepsea ro-ro rates out of China high in the near- to medium-term, despite penalties being imposed on the Asian giant for state subsidies.

Pointing to negative sentiment surrounding the car-carrier market in the summer, Andrea De Luca, maritime analyst at Veson Nautical, said EU penalties imposed upon Chinese state subsidies had taken a chunk of confidence out of the car-carrier market.

Mr De Luca said import tariffs of up to 45.3% on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) entering the EU had “created significant headwinds for car-carrier operators”.

He added: “The stock price for Wallenius Wilhelmsen took a hit in late October after Q3 results were released, falling just under 20% within two weeks before partially recovering, after equity analysts highlighted weaker global car sales forecasts.”

In total, Veson Nautical has estimated that China could see demand for its EVs fall as much as 10% as a consequence of the EU tariffs.

However, with automotive intelligence supplier Jato Dynamics, it added that an EU mandate requiring all cars sold in the bloc to be zero-emission-capable by 2035, may be sufficient to keep car-carrying rates high.

Veson’s report notes this may have influenced Wallenius’s new 2025 profit forecasts for year-on-year profit growth of 7%-12%, “suggesting a softer landing”.

Jato global analyst Felipe Munoz said the main issues surrounded the price at which Europe could produce cars, telling The Loadstar high prices were “leaving out a big part of the population who can’t afford a brand new car”.

He added: “Producing cars in Europe is becoming very expensive, and it doesn’t help when it also has to navigate the challenge of competing with China. Part of the rise in prices is explained by the regulation. More safety and emission standards are making it more expensive to produce cars, while China is less regulated, so its carmakers can move faster.”

He added one issue was the complexity of EU regulation which had not adapted to the rise of China, noting “if it wants to compete against China, it needs more flexible regulation.

Asked how it was impacting sales of EVs specifically, Mr Munoz said that, with production prices for all cars high, sales would continue to falter in the face of cheaper alternatives from not only China, but the likes of Morocco and Turkey.

However, Veson said it thought there was sufficient deepsea ro-ro demand to avoid any short- or medium-term crash.

Citing VesselsValue, it stated that there were “around 1m cars in containers out of China that are likely to switch back to ro-ro modalities in 2025/26, providing an unexpected boost for demand on car-carriers”.