On May 9, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the latest data on China’s shipbuilding industry. In the first quarter of this year, China’s shipbuilding industry saw comprehensive growth across its three major indicators, maintaining a global leading position in international market share.
The latest data shows that from January to March 2026, China’s shipbuilding completion volume reached 15.68 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 46.0%, accounting for 57.3% of the world total; new orders received amounted to 59.53 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 195.2%, accounting for 84.9% of the world total; as of the end of March, the order backlog stood at 322.30 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 43.6%, accounting for 69.8% of the world total.
From January to March 2026, China’s shipbuilding completion volume, new orders received, and order backlog accounted for 57.3%, 84.9%, and 69.8% of the global market share, respectively. Among the 18 major global ship types, China ranked first in new orders received for 15 of them. In the large vessel segment, China’s international market share for orders of VLCCs, large car carriers, bulk carriers, and large container ships of 10,000 TEU and above all exceeded 90%.
