These shipyards drive China's dominance in the global shipbuilding industry

China has entered a new phase of expansion, set to add approximately 200 more vessels per year to global shipbuilding capacity.

Analysts have examined China’s shipbuilding landscape, highlighting the growing market share of its leading shipyards and a major expansion wave initiated in 2024. This wave includes investments aimed at increasing capacity, reopening dormant shipyards, and welcoming new market entrants.

According to BRS, China’s total shipbuilding output rose by 12% in 2024, reaching 47.8M dwt. The orderbook-to-yearly output ratio hit a record 5.5 for the year, up from 3.8 in 2023 and 3.2 in 2022. Analysts note that "most Chinese shipyards are fully booked for the next three to four years, with no delivery slots available before the end of 2028."

In 2024, China led shipbuilding orders across all segments, including bulk carriers, tankers, and container vessels. The only exception was the LNG carrier sector, where South Korea continues to dominate, though analysts are questioning how long this will last.

Top five shipbuilders

BRS data reveals that the top five Chinese shipbuilding groups held 69% (179.9M dwt) of the country’s orderbook in 2024, while their combined share of the global orderbook surged from 33% in 2023 to 46.5% in 2024.

At the forefront is China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), the world’s leading shipbuilding group, controlling 34.2% of the Chinese orderbook and 23.0% of the global orderbook, in dwt terms. Last year, CSSC secured new orders totaling 48.2M dwt, 3.2 times more than South Korea’s largest shipbuilding group, HD Hyundai.

New Times Shipbuilding and Yangzijiang, the two largest private shipbuilders in China, follow in second and third place, with orderbooks of 24.6M dwt and 23.4M dwt, respectively. In global rankings, this places them third and fourth in terms of total dwt. New Times accounted for 8.3% of global ship orders in 2024, while Yangzijiang held a 5.7% share.

Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry, which was previously China’s second-largest shipbuilding group, has now fallen to fourth place, with 8.8% of the domestic orderbook. On a global scale, it is the fifth-largest shipbuilding group, accounting for 5.9% of the world’s orderbook.

Hengli Shipbuilding rounds out China’s top five. This relatively new private yard, established by Hengli Group after acquiring the former STX Dalian facility, has secured an orderbook of 19.9M dwt in just two years, making it the sixth-largest shipbuilding group globally.