Seatrade-Maritime: $666bn orderbook puts suppliers centre stage at SMM 2026

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

SMM 2026 opens on 1 September 2026 to the strongest shipping markets seen at the trade show and an orderbook almost one third larger than last time Hamburg Messe opened its doors to the industry.

Clarksons Research’s Clarksea index is more than 70% higher than two years ago at $42,710 per day, while the analyst’s figures show the global orderbook is 32.6% larger at 405.5m GT and valued at $666.4bn, 60% of which will flow through to suppliers as yards work through backlogs averaging four years.

Clarksons Research managing director Stephen Gordon said that rising shipyard output could lead to record-breaking production in 2027, and picked out 2026 as a 50-year high for VLCC orders, record VLGC orders, and potentially another record-breaking year for container ships.

Few records will be broken in European yards in terms of volume and ship numbers, however.

A trade show in the heart of Europe’s shipping industry will be all too aware of China’s dominance in shipbuilding. China increased its output by another 10% in 2025, accounting for more than half of the world’s tonnage. Since SMM 2010, Chinese output was up 39% while the rest of the world’s output fell by 38%, according to Gordon.

China also accounts for the largest share of international representation at SMM, according to organisers Hamburg Messe und Congress, and the nation’s participation has expanded again in 2026.

Europe’s years of competing with China, and Asia more broadly, in terms of sheer shipbuilding volume are over. However, European yards do retain considerable expertise and capacity for high-value, complex projects. Cruise is one such success story, with European yards holding 96% of the sector’s $72bn global orderbook.

Across commercial shipbuilding, the crucial question for SMM’s European equipment manufacturers and technology providers is whether they can retain their share of the value generated by ship orders wherever they are placed.

Chinese imports of key equipment such as marine engines have morphed into licensing agreements to produce equipment locally. European companies competing in a global market face difficult decisions around where manufacturing should be located, with implications for profitability, long-term viability, and domestic industrial capacity.

The situation has attracted the attention of policymakers in Europe. This year’s SMM is the first since the publication of the European Commission’s EU Industrial Maritime Strategy. The European Council has expressed its concern over trade distortion and unfair subsidisation in third countries affecting EU industry, calling for research into the protection of European industries against unfair competition.

The tension between protecting European industry and maintaining relations with the world’s largest shipbuilding nation will be the backdrop of the China-Europe Maritime Summit at SMM, hosted by DNV, the German Shipowners’ Association (VDR), and the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI).

Equipment manufacturers and technology providers at SMM 2026 may take comfort from the orderbook and the strong outlook that comes with it, but their share of the next shipbuilding cycle is not guaranteed.

Europe’s equipment manufacturers and technology providers have created value and maintained relevance through innovation, their strengths in digitalisation, decarbonisation, and ship efficiency align with shipping’s trajectory. SMM serves as an industry showcase for progress, and previews for the exhibition highlight developments in AI applications, alternative fuels, energy storage, propulsion, and robotics, among others.

This year’s SMM comes at a booming time for many exhibitors, but it remains to be seen where the long-term value, expertise, and industrial capability will reside for the ships of the future.