According to the national marine economic statistics data released by the Ministry of Natural Resources on August 3, in the first half of this year, China's new orders received, completions and backlog of orders for ocean-going ships all saw an increase, maintaining a leading position in the international market share, among which the new orders received increased by 105.2% year-on-year.

The shipbuilding industry maintains a strong boom. In the first half of this year, China's three core indicators for shipbuilding all saw growth, and its international market share remained the world's leading. Semi-annual performance forecasts of listed companies also confirm this trend. Many shipbuilding enterprises projected a substantial increase in their first-half performance, and new orders continued to rise steadily.

The industry is booming

According to the shipbuilding industry statistics for the first half of 2026 released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) recently, China's three core indicators of shipbuilding completion volume, new orders received volume and backlog orders volume have all seen growth. Specifically, in the first half of the year, China's shipbuilding completion volume reached 36.5 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 51.2%, accounting for 62.2% of the world's total; the new orders received volume was 121.06 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 173.1%, accounting for 82.3% of the world's total; as of the end of June, the backlog orders volume stood at 363.25 million deadweight tons, a year-on-year increase of 54.9%, accounting for 71.2% of the world's total.

Among them, national marine economic statistics show that in the first half of this year, China's new shipbuilding orders received, completed ship output, and backlog orders for marine vessels increased by 105.2%, 34.8%, and 37.1% year-on-year respectively. The global market shares of these three indicators reached 73.9%, 55.4%, and 63.3% respectively, maintaining a leading position globally.

Meanwhile, China's shipbuilding industry has continued to accelerate its pace in international expansion. Wang Weiming, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that in the first half of this year, export ships accounted for more than 90% of the country's total shipbuilding completion volume, new order volume received and on-hand order volume, and its international competitiveness has been steadily improving.

A relevant official from the China Association of the Shipbuilding Industry stated that China has maintained a global market share of over 68% in newly received orders for green ships for three consecutive years, and this high level was sustained in the first half of this year. China has continued to accelerate its pace in the transformation towards mid-to-high-end ships.

At the 2026 H1 Shipping Industry Operation Analysis Conference, the participating representatives unanimously agreed that China's shipping enterprises should continue to promote the development of greenization, intellectualization and integration, improve the risk early warning mechanism, and consolidate the foundation of the industrial chain and supply chain.

Impressive Performance

The strong prosperity of the shipbuilding industry has been fully verified in the semi-annual performance forecasts of listed companies. Not only have shipbuilding enterprises achieved impressive performance, but shipping companies have also performed exceptionally well.

As for shipbuilding enterprises, China CSSC Holdings Ltd. estimated that its net profit attributable to shareholders in the first half of this year would reach 9.2 billion to 11 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of 212.29% to 273.39%; and a growth of 143.56% to 191.21% compared with the same period of the previous year (restated in accordance with the post-merger basis).

China Shipping indicated that the company currently has a sufficient order backlog and full production schedules. Relying on its mature shipbuilding system as well as the strengths of mass production and paced production, the company maintains stable and orderly production and operation, which lays a solid foundation for steady performance growth.

Songfa Co., Ltd. estimates that it will achieve a net profit attributable to parent of 3.6 billion RMB in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 456.33%. Behind the company's substantial pre-increase in performance is that in the first half of 2026, the global shipbuilding market continued a high prosperity cycle, and stricter environmental protection regulations and the replacement of aging ships drove both volume and price in the new shipbuilding market. Songfa Co., Ltd. stated that the scale of new orders received by the company has continued to expand, the ship type layout has become more diversified, and the proportion of high value-added oil tankers and container ships has steadily increased.

The shipping sector has also seen a string of good news. China Merchants Energy Shipping expects to achieve a net profit attributable to parent of 6.6 billion to 7.3 billion RMB in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 214% to 248%. This means the company's profit scale in the first half of this year is far higher than 2.125 billion RMB in the same period last year. China Merchants Energy Shipping stated that affected by various factors such as changes in supply and demand structure and the geopolitical situation, the international oil tanker transportation market has entered a super-prosperous cycle, and the spot freight rates of some routes have hit historical highs in the first half of the year; the international dry bulk market has benefited from the continuous improvement of supply and demand.

COSCO Shipping Energy expects to swing to a profit in the first half of the year, with its net profit attributable to shareholders reaching 110 million to 130 million RMB. Regarding the improvement in performance, the company stated that it has focused on promoting the iteration and renewal of old ships and the commissioning of new ships. From 2025 to 2026, several newly built large-tonnage green and energy-efficient ships of the company have been put into operation one after another, which has optimized the capacity structure of the overall fleet, effectively reduced the energy consumption and navigation costs of a single ship, and improved the company's operational efficiency.

Industry insiders said that under the combined effect of supply and demand relations, rising freight rates have supported the prosperity of the shipping market. The regular detour in the Red Sea and the continuous congestion and current limiting in the Panama Canal have disrupted global shipping routes, leading to a decline in ship turnover efficiency and further widening the supply and demand gap; the transportation demand for bulk cargo such as coal, iron ore and grain has recovered steadily.

New Orders Boom

The product structure of China's shipbuilding industry is accelerating its shift towards mid-to-high-end products.

National marine economic statistics show that from the perspective of the maritime ship sector, the product structure has been continuously optimized, and delivery has achieved both quantity and quality improvement. In the first half of the year, more than 40 vessels including large container ships with deliveries of over 10,000 TEU each, very large crude carriers, and large liquefied natural gas carriers were delivered. Multiple shipbuilding enterprises have full production tasks, and some orders are scheduled for delivery after 2029.

The world's first 10,800-car LNG dual-fuel vehicle carrier, the world's first 24,000-TEU methanol dual-fuel containership, and China's first 740-TEU all-electric intelligent containership, a batch of high-end ships, have been delivered successively, and the supply capacity of high-end shipbuilding has steadily improved.

China Shipbuilding stated that the structure of the company's backlog of orders has been further optimized in the first half of the year. The year-on-year increases were seen in the quantity of civil shipbuilding products delivered, the proportion of mid-to-high-end ship types, and the average price per ship, leading to a year-on-year improvement in operating performance.

At the same time, listed companies have recently disclosed new ship orders and contracts intensively, reflecting the booming momentum of the shipbuilding industry.

Dajin Heavy Industry announced that its subsidiary Tangshan Dajin Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd. has signed a contract with a Greek shipowner to build 3 plus 1 bulk carriers, with a total value of approximately 2.1 billion RMB. Among them, the contract value for the 3 confirmed ships is about 1.575 billion RMB, which will be delivered in batches between 2029 and 2030.

China Merchants Energy Shipping announced that the company plans to sign an agreement with an affiliated company under China Merchants Shipping through an overseas single-ship company established by its wholly-owned subsidiary. It intends to build 6 new-generation energy-saving and environment-friendly 343,000 deadweight tonnage VLOC ore carriers. The total investment of the project is expected to be no more than 4.93 billion RMB, and the delivery is scheduled to be completed successively from 2029 to 2030.

COSCO SHIPPING Development plans to commission Waigaoqiao Shipyard to build 10 210,000-ton bulk carriers through its wholly-owned subsidiary Hainan COSCO SHIPPING Development Maritime Co., Ltd., with a transaction value of 5.28 billion RMB; and to commission Xiangyu Offshore Engineering to build 5 210,000-ton bulk carriers, with a transaction value of 2.64 billion RMB, totaling 7.92 billion RMB.

Industry insiders said that the global merchant fleet is in its most aged state in 30 years, while it is increasingly facing pressure from environmental protection and carbon reduction. Meanwhile, the capacity for new shipbuilding is limited before 2030, and the growth of shipping capacity supply is restricted, which may further support the improvement of the industry's return level.

SunSirs has been continuously tracking price data for over 200 commodities for nearly 20 years, please contact support@sunsirs.com for subscription.