Seatrade-Maritime: Newbuilding orders at Chinese shipyards surge 173% in H1

Published by Seatrade-Maritime

Shipbuilding yards in China are reaping rewards from the continued newbuilding order boom shipowners around the world.

China’s shipbuilding industry achieved strong growth across all three core indicators in the first half of 2026, setting new records and further consolidating its leading position in the global shipbuilding market.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in the first half of this year, new ship orders skyrocketed to 121.06 million dwt, a year-on-year surge of 173.1% surpassing the historical full-year order record within just half a year.

China’s global market share of newbuildings for the three major mainstream ship types – bulk carriers, container ships and oil tankers – all surpass 80% globally according to the Ministry.

The first half of the year has seen the global container ship newbuilding orders surpass 13 million teu in total and it is closing in on 40% of the existing fleet in terms of capacity. Meanwhile in the tanker sector 54.5 million dwt of VLCCs ordered in the first six months of 2026 eclipsed the previous annual record of 32.6 million dwt ordered in 2006, according to Maritime Strategies International (MSI). The VLCC orderbook to fleet ratio has reached roughly 35%.

Fast growing private shipbuilder Hengli Heavy Industry bagged 207 newbuilding orders in the first half of the year comprising 49 bulk carriers, 56 container ships and 94 oil tankers.

Chinese yards also showed strong growth in two other key indexes. The completed shipbuilding output reached 36.5 million dwt, a year-on-year increase of 51.2%. The orders on hand provide long-term stability for the country’s shipbuilding industry and stand at 363.25 million dwt, rising 54.9%.

Li Yanqing, Vice President of the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry, pointed out that the global shipping market has maintained a booming trend since the first quarter of 2026, and this strong momentum continued throughout the first half of the year. China’s shipbuilding industry delivered outstanding performance, with the growth rates of both completed ship output and hand-held order backlog exceeding 50%.

Li Yanqing further emphasized that China’s new orders for green vessels have accounted for more than 68% of the global market for three consecutive years, and this high market share was well maintained in the first half of 2026.

In the first half, China’s shipbuilding output, new orders received, and orders on hand accounted for 62.2%, 82.3%, and 71.2% of the global market share, according to the Ministry.