Numbers say it all

China last year led the world in contracting, order book and delivery of vessels, three major indicators in global shipbuilding, according to data published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Chinese shipbuilders completed construction of 55.7 percent of global orders in 2024, received 74.1 percent of the new orders, and accounted for 63.1 percent of the world's hand-held vessel orders, representing year-on-year growth of 13.8 percent, 58.8 percent and 49.7 percent respectively.

China now produces more than half of the world's cargo ships by tonnage, up from just 5 percent in 1999, followed by Japan and South Korea, USTR figures showed. Last year, US shipyards built just 0.01 percent of the total.

In 2023, China for the first time accounted for half of the world's total shipbuilding production by delivering 17.4 million compensated gross tonnage, and significantly consolidating its importance to the global shipbuilding industry, said Stephen Gordon, managing director of Clarksons Research. Despite major disruptions in recent years, shipping remains vital to the global economy by moving 85 percent of all trade globally, Gordon said.

"The outstanding achievements in capturing new orders and expanding production have indicated the strong foundation of the Chinese shipbuilding industry, and they are the results of collaboration with global prime suppliers," Li Yanqing, secretary-general of the Beijing-based China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry told China Central Television.

The orders Chinese shipbuilders hold in hand are equivalent to the combined workload of four years, laying a solid foundation for the sector to achieve stable development, Li said.