China's shipbuilding sector topped the global market in 2022 in terms of orders and vessel completion. Experts said that Chinese shipbuilding companies have more advantages in productivity, production stability and other aspects, compared with their foreign counterparts. The performance of the shipbuilding sector also highlighted the resilience of Chinese industries, they noted. From January to November 2022, China led the world in terms of vessel completion and orders, data from the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) showed. China held 45.5% of the global market in vessel completion, with 53.1% of new orders and 48.5% of orders on hand. Data from UK-based Clarkson Research also revealed that China topped the global list for new orders in 2022, accounting for 49% of the total orders worldwide. Among the 41.93 million compensated gross tons (CGT) of global orders, China had contracts for 20.34 million CGT in new orders, ranking first and surpassing South Korea's 15.64 million CGT, Clarkson data showed.
China and South Korea have comparable technical strength in shipbuilding, as China has mature technology for constructing large-scale container vessels, while South Korea has advantages in building liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, Zheng Ping, Chief Analyst of industry news website chineseport.cn, told the Global Times. In the first 11 months of 2022, the 75 Chinese ship enterprises monitored by CANSI saw a total of CNY280.33 billion in income from their main business, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%, while total profits were up 109.4% to CNY7.54 billion.
Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding Co under China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) and China Shipbuilding Trading Co delivered the world's largest ultra-large containership, EVER ACME, last week. The ship, which can carry 24,000 standard containers, was delivered four months ahead of schedule. In 2022, Hudong-Zhonghua completed and delivered 16 vessels totaling 1.34 million deadweight tons (DWT), of which medium- and high-end vessels such as LNG carriers and large and ultra-large container vessels accounted for 90% of total orders.
The company won orders for 47 new vessels with a total of 4.33 million DWT, including 38 large LNG carriers, setting a record for the highest number of annual orders for LNG carriers among Chinese shipyards and ranking second globally. CSSC said on December 23 that it delivered 209 ships in 2022, amounting to 14,06 million DWT. The company also maintained world leadership in new orders and orders on hand, the Global Times reports.
