Chinese shipyards secured more newbuilding tonnage in the first six months of 2026 than in any full year on record, further consolidating the country's dominance of the global shipbuilding market and widening the gap over rival shipbuilding nations South Korea and Japan.

New contracts totalled 121.06 million deadweight tonnes (dwt) between January and June, representing a 173.1% increase year on year and accounting for 82.3% of all global ordering on a deadweight basis, according to data from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The half-year total already surpassed the full-year figure for 2025 by 12.3%, when Chinese yards booked 107.82 million dwt.

Order momentum remained strong through the second quarter. Chinese yards contracted 61.53 million dwt of new orders between April and June, edging past the 59.53 million dwt recorded in the first three months of the year.

On the production side, China's shipbuilding output reached 36.5 million dwt in the first half, a year-on-year rise of 51.2%, giving the country a 62.2% share of global completions. Second-quarter deliveries accounted for approximately 20.82 million dwt, up from 15.68 million dwt in the first quarter.

China's total orderbook stood at 363.25 million dwt at the end of June, up 54.9% from a year earlier and equivalent to 71.2% of all tonnage on order worldwide. The backlog expanded by nearly 41 million dwt during the second quarter alone. The swollen orderbook means delivery slots at top-tier Chinese yards are largely filled into the latter part of the decade, a dynamic that has been pushing newbuilding prices upward and redirecting some owners toward yards in South Korea and Japan for earlier slots.

Chinese builders captured more than 80% of global new orders across each of the three largest conventional ship categories — bulk carriers, containerships, and tankers. The country also retained a share of over 68% of global green vessel orders, a level Chinese shipyards have maintained for three consecutive years. Demand for alternative-fuel vessels has been underpinned by increasingly stringent International Maritime Organization emissions regulations, including short-term measures already in force and the organisation's revised greenhouse gas reduction strategy targeting net-zero emissions from international shipping around or by 2050.

The surge in contracting is being accompanied by a new wave of capacity expansion. As Splash reported earlier this year, dormant Chinese yards have been reactivated and established builders are pursuing major facility expansions. Hengli Heavy Industry, among the fastest-growing companies in the sector, has announced a RMB 13.5 billion ($1.94 billion) capacity investment programme as the revitalised yard deepens its presence across mainstream commercial ship types.