Chinese shipyards booked more new tonnage in the first half of 2026 than during any previous full year, tightening their grip on the global order market.
New contracts totalled 121.06m dwt between January and June, up 173.1% year on year and equal to 82.3% of global ordering on a deadweight basis, according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The six-month haul was already 12.3% above the 107.82m dwt secured during all of 2025.
The pace showed little sign of slowing during the second quarter. Chinese yards added 61.53m dwt of orders between April and June, slightly more than the 59.53m dwt contracted during the opening three months of the year.
Shipbuilding output reached 36.5m dwt in the first half, up 51.2%, giving China 62.2% of global completions. Around 20.82m dwt was delivered during the second quarter alone, compared with 15.68m dwt in the first.
The country’s orderbook stood at 363.25m dwt at the end of June, an increase of 54.9% from a year earlier and equivalent to 71.2% of tonnage on order worldwide. The backlog grew by nearly 41m dwt during the second quarter.
Chinese builders took more than 80% of global orders across each of the three largest conventional ship types — bulk carriers, containerships and tankers. The country also maintained a share of more than 68% of global green vessel orders, a level Chinese yards have held for the past three years.
The contracting boom is being matched by another round of capacity growth. Splash reported earlier this year that dormant Chinese yards were being brought back into production and established builders were pursuing major expansions. Hengli Heavy Industry, one of the fastest-growing names in the sector, has outlined a RMB13.5bn ($1.94bn) capacity investment as the revived yard builds a larger presence across mainstream ship types.
