SHANGHAI -- China's leading new-energy vehicle manufacturer BYD on Thursday sent 40 pure electric trucks on a bulk carrier via the port of Shanghai, which are destined for export to Chennai, India.

This also marked the debut of the transport using bulk carriers for NEV exports in Shanghai through the Zhanghuabang Wharf.

The NEV maker said that it will send another 200 pure electric trucks for export via the wharf, in the same way, later this month.

Recently, the capacity of traditional roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ships in Shanghai have been insufficient to meet the export demand of NEV manufacturers in China.

The exporters proposed that the port should open more channels in addition to the transport by ro-ro ships via the wharves of Waigaoqiao and Yangshan in Shanghai.

According to data from Shanghai Customs, in the first 10 months of this year, Shanghai exported 1.12 million vehicles with a value of over 150 billion yuan ($21.5 billion), up by 46.8 percent and 71.6 percent, respectively, over the same period of last year.

Among them, there were 417,000 electric vehicles, with a value of 86.2 billion yuan, up by 92.5 percent and 115.5 percent year-on-year, respectively.