Over 80% of new shipbuilding orders globally going to China

• Ship completions rise over 50% y-o-y in Jan-Sept’26 to 58.05 mnt
• China gets 74.1% of new global orders for green-powered ships

China’s shipbuilding industry strengthened its dominance in the global market in the first nine months of 2026, with all three key indicators – completions, new orders and order backlog – recording strong y-o-y growth.

Ship completions rose 50.7% to 58.05 mnt during January-September, accounting for 63.6% of global output. The sharper shift, however, came in new orders, which surged 163.2% to 175.29 mnt and represented 81.8% of global bookings.

The expanding order pipeline is also reflected in China’s backlog, which stood at 399.13 mnt in end-September, up 64.8% y-o-y and equivalent to 72.4% of the global total. The figures suggest that China’s market dominance is extending beyond current production into future capacity commitments.

The industry’s transition towards lower-emission vessels is progressing alongside this expansion. China accounted for 74.1% of international new orders for green-powered ships, up 5.7 percentage points from January-June, indicating that its competitive position is increasingly extending into the emerging low-carbon segment.