China’s largest private shipbuilding group, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, is comprehensively accelerating its order intake pace.
On November 17, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group released its business update for the third quarter of 2025. So far this year, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has secured a total of 50 new vessel orders worth $2.17 billion (approximately RMB 15.406 billion), most of which are small and medium-sized vessels, scheduled for delivery between 2027 and 2029.
It is worth mentioning that Yangzijiang Shipbuilding accelerated its order intake pace in the second half of the year. The current order value is 4.02 times the $540 million secured in the first half of 2025.
Report data shows that the new vessel orders secured by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding this year include 38 container ships (5 of 1100 TEU, 8 of 1700 TEU, 5 of 1800 TEU, 6 of 2900 TEU, 4 of 3000 TEU, 4 of 3100 TEU, 2 of 4300 TEU, 2 of 4488 TEU, and 2 of 11800 TEU), 10 bulk carriers (4 of 71,000 DWT, 6 of 83,000 DWT), and 2 of 40,000 cubic meter LPG carriers.
Following the announcement of its first-half financial results in early August, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding updated its order intake status reports on August 29 and September 27. Compared to previous data, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has added orders for 4 of 3100 TEU container ships and 2 of 83,000 DWT bulk carriers since September 27.
Among these, the 4 of 3100 TEU container ships will be built by the joint venture shipyard Yangzi-Mitsui Shipbuilding, marking the first time Yangzi-Mitsui Shipbuilding will construct container ships. Since its establishment in 2019, Yangzi-Mitsui Shipbuilding has focused on building bulk carriers, oil tankers, and liquefied gas carriers.
Yangzijiang Shipbuilding did not disclose the shipowner information for most of the orders, only emphasizing in the report released on September 27 that the order for the 2 of 11800 TEU container ships came from one of its long-term most trusted partners – Seaspan Corporation, the world’s largest independent container ship owner. This order is also the only large container ship order secured by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding this year; the remaining 36 are all small and medium-sized vessels.
In recent years, most of the container ship orders secured by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding have been medium and large-sized vessels. Particularly last year, out of Yangzijiang’s 68 new container ship orders, 28 were 17000 TEU vessels, along with 17 of 13000 TEU, 16 of 9000 TEU, 5 of 8000 TEU, and 2 of 4300 TEU. According to Clarksons data, the last time Yangzijiang Shipbuilding secured an order for small vessels below 2000 TEU was in July 2022, when the Greek shipowner Cosmoship Management ordered 2 of 1781 TEU feeder ships for delivery in 2024.
As of now, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding’s total orderbook stands at 245 vessels, totaling 8.77 million CGT, valued at $22.83 billion (approximately RMB 162.083 billion), with delivery schedules extending to 2030. The orderbook features a diverse ship type structure, including 126 container ships (5.83 million CGT, value $16.21 billion), 46 bulk carriers (1.02 million CGT, value $1.86 billion), 26 liquefied gas carriers (/VLEC) (68 million CGT, value $2.36 billion), and 47 oil tankers (1.24 million CGT, value $2.40 billion). Green clean energy vessel types account for approximately 71% of the total orderbook value.
Meanwhile, the joint venture shipyard Yangzi-Mitsui Shipbuilding holds an orderbook of 61 vessels, totaling 1.44 million CGT, with a total value of $3.30 billion (approximately RMB 23.429 billion), including 4 of 3100 TEU container ships, 17 LPG carriers, 4 of 88,000 cubic meter Very Large Ammonia Carriers (VLAC), 3 MR product tankers, and 33 bulk carriers. Calculated by order value, approximately 48% are liquefied gas carriers, with delivery schedules extending to 2029.
Currently, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding is steadily advancing its capacity expansion project. Its new base, the Yangzi Hongyuan Green High-Tech Clean Energy Ship Manufacturing Base project, with an investment of 3 billion, commenced construction in February this year and is planned for completion in the first half of 2027. This project will utilize a shoreline length of approximately 1,320 meters, cover an area of about 1,300 mu, and construct one 300,000-ton class shipbuilding dock, one 200,000-ton class outfitting wharf, and one 100,000-ton class harbor basin, with an annual production capacity of about 800,000 deadweight tons.
Ren Letian, Chairman and CEO of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, stated: “As the global macroeconomic outlook becomes clearer, we see an improvement in customer sentiment and a moderate recovery in order momentum. However, it must be pointed out that the industry-wide orderbook remains at historically high levels, and delivery lead times have extended to nearly five years. Availability for large vessel delivery slots at first-tier shipyards is very limited. Therefore, both shipowners and shipyards maintain a cautious attitude towards delivery schedules for 2030 and beyond. As for us, the Group remains focused on the high-quality and timely execution of the existing orderbook to ensure robust profit realization and sustainable shareholder returns. At the same time, we are actively filling the remaining delivery slots for 2029, which are primarily targeted at small and medium-sized vessels.
