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China Widens Shipbuilding Lead, BIMCO Says

[ October 23, 2026   //   Gary Burrows ]

China’s shipyards captured nearly three-quarters of global vessel contracting during the year ended Sept. 1, further extending the country’s lead while raising questions about whether expanded building capacity can remain fully employed.

The global shipyard order book reached an estimated 203.2 million compensated gross tons, or CGT, on Sept. 1, an increase of 13 percent from 180 million CGT a year earlier, according to BIMCO.

The total remained below the record 210.4 million CGT reached in May but exceeded the previous high of 195.4 million CGT recorded in 2008.

Chinese shipyards secured 74 percent of the CGT contracted during the latest 12-month period. China now holds 64 percent of the global order book, compared with South Korea’s 19 percent and Japan’s 6 percent.

China holds more than 72 percent of the order book in each of six major cargo-carrying sectors: container ships, tankers, gas carriers, dry bulk vessels, other dry cargo vessels and ro-ro ships. Those sectors represent 88 percent of the worldwide order book.

Its largest share is in containerships, with Chinese yards holding 81 percent of the segment’s order book.

“Containerships dominate both the order book and its growth over the past 12 months,” BIMCO Chief Shipping Analyst Niels Rasmussen said. “They account for 30 percent of CGT on order and 68 percent of the increase during the past year.”

Chinese yards hold orders equal to about 4.2 years of recent production capacity, BIMCO estimated. Comparable coverage is 1.9 years for South Korean yards and 1.7 years for Japanese builders.

Deliveries from China, South Korea and Japan totaled 40.1 million CGT in 2025. Their scheduled deliveries rise to 55.9 million CGT in 2027 and 60 million CGT in 2028.

Chinese shipyards alone are scheduled to deliver a record 44 million CGT in 2028, nearly twice their 22.7 million CGT output in 2025.

“The capacity expansion needed to achieve this could increase the risk of underutilization if contracting weakens in the future,” Rasmussen said.

Tags: BIMCO