China reinforced its position as the world’s largest shipbuilder in 2025, with industry output, new orders and order backlogs all reaching record levels. That’s according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), cited by China Daily. It was the country’s 16th straight year in the leading position.
The nation’s shipyards built 53.69 million deadweight tons (DWT) of vessels last year, an increase of 11.4 percent year-on-year that accounted for 56.1 percent of global shipbuilding output, the ministry said.
New orders climbed sharply to 107.82 million DWT, meeting 69 percent of worldwide demand. The industry’s total order backlog rose 31.5 percent year-on-year to a record 274.42 million DWT, or 66.8 percent of the global total.
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The figures highlight China’s continued lead across the three core shipbuilding indicators: completions, new orders and orderbooks. Six out of the world’s top 10 shipbuilding firms currently hail from China, the ministry said, based on their rankings in those three indicators.
China led the world in new orders across 16 of 18 major vessel categories, reflecting its strong position not only in mainstream ship types but also in more specialised segments.
According to the Daily, international shipping companies increasingly invest in the more fuel-efficient and technologically advanced vessels built in China.
