CHINA Shipping (Group) Co, parent of the nation's biggest oil tanker company, set up a vehicle shipping unit as the country's auto makers increase exports.

China Shipping Car Carrier Co, the new unit, will take over its parent's stakes in two existing vehicle carriers and will have annual capacity to move 29,000 vehicles by the end of next year, Gu Quanlin, China Shipping's deputy head of the president's office, told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview yesterday.

"China's automobile exports have great potential," said Gu."We are already the leading player in the field and we will further develop our business."

Honda Motor Co, Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd and other auto makers in the country almost doubled their exports to 342,400 units last year. Exports of vehicles and automobile components in 2006 were about 10 times more than in 2001, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China Shipping owns 51 percent of Zhonghai Kawasaki Automobile Shipping Co, a venture set up in 2004 with Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. The shipping company also has a wholly owned unit in Dalian operating a roll-on and roll-off ship with capacity of 3,294 automobiles, the largest in service in the country, said Gu.