Day rates for chartering a Pure Car and Truck Carrier — the specialized ships that move finished vehicles by sea. Rates are driven by the boom in vehicle exports, particularly from China, running into a global PCTC fleet that was barely growing for most of the last decade.
For most of the 2010s, few new car carriers were ordered because vehicle export volumes were flat. China's rapid rise as a vehicle exporter, especially in EVs, hit that under-invested fleet directly, and PCTC rates rose several-fold as ships that used to sit half-empty on some routes became fully booked years in advance.
Because Chinese vehicle exports are such a large share of incremental demand for this fleet, the signal is more concentrated in one economy's trade policy and industrial cycle than most others tracked here. A shift in Chinese export volumes, tariffs, or a wave of PCTC newbuild deliveries (many of which are now on order specifically because of these high rates) can move the signal quickly in either direction.
Rates near the buy threshold describe the pre-2021 environment — ample ship supply, weak pricing power for owners. Rates in the sell zone describe the current fleet shortage; the newbuild orders that shortage has triggered are the mechanism that historically ends this kind of cycle once they start being delivered.
Signycle alerts you the moment PCTC Car Carrier Rate crosses BUY or SELL thresholds.
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