It's on us. Share your news here.

China remains global leader in shipbuilding across three key metrics in Q1-Q3 of 2025

A drone photo taken on Oct. 16, 2025 shows the "SMC RIZHAO" ship performing the maiden voyage of the Qingdao-Jeju container shipping route berthing at the Qingdao International Cruise Terminal in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. A regular direct container shipping route between Qingdao and South Korea's Jeju was launched on Thursday. This express shipping route will operate once a week in its initial stage, significantly enhancing the logistics efficiency between the two places, effectively reducing logistics costs, and further densifying the shipping network of east China's Shandong Province to South Korea. Photo:Xinhua

Posted on October 20, 2025

China remained the global leader in shipbuilding across three key metrics — output, new orders, and order backlog — in the first three quarters of 2025, according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on its website on Friday.

From January to September 2025, China’s completed shipbuilding output reached 38.53 million deadweight tons (DWT), up 6.0 percent year-on-year; new orders totaled 66.60 million DWT, down 23.5 percent; and as of the end of September, order backlog stood at 242.24 million DWT, up 25.3 percent year-on-year.

During the same period, China’s share of the global market, measured by deadweight tonnage, accounted for 53.8 percent of completed output, 67.3 percent of new orders, and 65.2 percent of order backlog. Measured by compensated gross tonnage (CGT), the shares were 47.3 percent, 63.5 percent, and 58.6 percent, respectively, maintaining China’s leading position in the global shipbuilding industry.

On October 13, the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry released new data showing that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), China’s shipbuilding sector has seen rapid growth across three key indicators — completed output, new orders, and order backlog — maintaining its global lead. The period has also witnessed the delivery of high-end vessels including 300,000-ton very large crude carriers, dual-fuel car carriers, and China’s first domestically built large cruise ship, the Adora Magic City. Construction of the second large cruise ship at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding has now reached 85 percent.

With both quantity and quality rising, industry profitability has also improved significantly. As of June 2025, major shipbuilding enterprises recorded a profit margin of 9.71 percent — the highest level on record.

Bian Yongzu, executive deputy editor-in-chief of Modernization of Management magazine, told the Global Times on Friday that China’s shipbuilding dominance is rooted in its overall economic strength and vast trade scale. “China is the world’s largest trading nation and home to eight of the world’s top 10 ports, which creates enormous demand for ships,” he said. “That demand, coupled with a complete industrial chain and the world’s most comprehensive manufacturing base, provides a solid foundation for the shipbuilding sector’s growth.”

He added that China’s technological innovation and industrial upgrading have also been key drivers. “China now leads globally in R&D investment and industrial technology,” Bian said. “Strong financial support and advanced research capacity have significantly enhanced the competitiveness of Chinese shipyards.”

Bian added that China’s vast pool of skilled workers gives it a key edge, ensuring stable and efficient ship production unmatched by many other countries.

Source

It's on us. Share your news here.
Submit Your News Today

Join Our
Newsletter
Click to Subscribe