China's shipbuilding industry maintained its global lead across all three major metrics in 2025, marking 16 consecutive years at the top, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China Media Group (CMG) reported.

China's shipbuilding industry completed 53.69 million deadweight tons (DWT), a 11.4 percent year-on-year increase, in 2025, accounting for 56.1 percent of the global market, according to MIIT. New orders totaled 107.82 million DWT, representing 69 percent of the global market. By the end of December, the order backlog reached 274.42 million DWT, up 31.5 percent year-on-year, accounting for 66.8 percent of the global total and setting a new historical high, CMG reported.

Besides, China's key shipbuilders further strengthened their international competitiveness in 2025. Six Chinese companies ranked among the world's top 10 in terms of ship completions, new orders and order backlogs. Of the 18 major vessel types, China led the world in new orders for 16, while multiple world-class green and intelligent vessels were delivered, marking major breakthroughs in high-end upgrading and clear progress in the industry's high-quality development, according to MIIT's data.

Bian Yongzu, executive deputy editor-in-chief of Modernization of Management magazine, told the Global Times that China's shipbuilding industry has firmly secured the world's top position across most major indicators - a strength closely tied to the country's overall economic fundamentals. As the world's largest trader in goods and a leading global trading partner, China also hosts multiple ports among the world's top 10, creating enormous and sustained demand for maritime transport that strongly underpins its shipbuilding sector.

Bian noted that China's comprehensive industrial system represents another decisive advantage. As a capital-, technology- and supply-chain-intensive sector, shipbuilding places high demands on a country's manufacturing foundation. 

China boasts the world's most complete industrial system and has sharply increased R&D investment in recent years, laying a solid technological foundation for high-end shipbuilding. Meanwhile, a steadily advancing financial system has provided further backing for the industry's financing requirements, he said.

In addition, China's largepool of skilled labor constitutes a competitive edge. Shipbuilding relies heavily on seasonal technical professionals, such as welders and assembly specialists - expertise that many countries struggle to cultivate at scale. China's strong manufacturing and equipment industries have continuously nurtured a large workforce of personnel, guaranteeing an ample talent supply for shipbuilding sector and helping it avoid the development bottlenecks encountered in some other major shipbuilding nations, Bian said.