China Shipbuilding Dominance: Set to Retain Global Lead in 2024
China’s Shipbuilding Dominance to continue in 2024, as market observers and shipbuilders anticipate sustained leadership in the global shipbuilding market. It is expected to maintain the lead in the global market throughout 2024.
Chinese shipyards have shown robust growth in new orders and output, outperforming foreign rivals in innovation, productivity, and supply chain advantages.
In the first 11 months of 2023, China’s shipbuilding output increased by 12.3 percent to 38.09 million deadweight tons (dwt), representing 50.1 percent of the world’s total. New orders soared by 63.8 percent to 64.85 million dwt, making up 65.9 percent of global orders during the same period, China Daily has reported. This trend indicates China’s Shipbuilding Dominance in the new year too.
Industry Optimism 2023
The director of the marine strategic planning and economics department at the Ministry of Natural Resources, He Guangshun, anticipates continued high performance in China’s shipbuilding industry in 2023, driven by a global recovery in new vessels and offshore engineering markets.
Zheng Huiming, president of the Zhejiang Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, predicts that China’s shipbuilding industry will lead in the export sector in 2024, fueled by increased global demand for vessels using alternative power sources.
Global Expansion Strategy
China’s shipbuilding industry has expanded into new overseas markets and emerging sectors, aiming to explore diversified paths for market expansion in the next phase. Du Haiming, assistant head of the marketing department at New Times Shipbuilding Co, reports full capacity operations with orders scheduled into the first half of 2027.
China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Nanjing) Co has delivered several 7,000-unit car carriers to overseas clients and is working on a 9,400-unit car carrier and developing ships for over 10,000 vehicles.
Intelligent Ships Trend
Xu Lian, vice president of China Merchants Jinling Shipyard, predicts that intelligent ships, equipped with autonomous control and adaptive learning capabilities, will be the future of the shipbuilding industry. The Yangtze River Delta region, particularly in Shanghai and Jiangsu province, has cultivated robust capabilities in manufacturing and production support, leveraging its ports and well-developed logistics network.
Several major shipyards, including Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co and Jiangnan Shipyard (Group) Co, have started construction for their inaugural LNG carrier orders, indicating the emergence of a robust industrial cluster in China dedicated to large LNG carriers.
Industry Growth Figures
As of the end of November, China’s shipbuilding industry held orders totaling 134.09 million dwt, expanding 29.4 percent year-on-year and representing 53.4 percent of the global market share, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
