Radio France Internationale (RFI) recently reported that China’s ship orders have fallen sharply. For many years, China has been the world’s largest shipbuilding country, but in the first half of 2025, new orders for Chinese shipyards plummeted 68 percent year-over-year, to 26.3 million tons.
The head of the Asian branch of the Chinese shipping exchange platform ShipBid said, “The decline is mainly due to global shipowners’ concerns about the U.S. measures against China’s shipbuilding industry.” In April, the U.S. announced it would impose docking fees on any Chinese-owned, operated or built ship that docks at U.S. ports – initially estimated at $1.5 million per call. As a result, China’s share of global shipbuilding orders fell from 75 percent last year to 56 percent in the first half of 2025, while South Korea’s share rose from 14 percent to 30 percent. South Korea, with 14.2 million tons, is just behind China.
In the 1980s, the United States abandoned civilian shipbuilding as an industry, and Asian companies gradually captured the market: first Japan, then South Korea and, in the past 15 years, China.
Source: RFI, July 9, 2025
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