Global Container Ship Orders Surge Against the Trend, Order Backlog Hits Record High. Chinese Shipbuilders Almost Monopolize the Recent Order Wave, Capturing Nearly 90% of New Orders This Year.
Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), stated that despite heightened uncertainty in trade policy and declining freight rates, the container ship order backlog continues to grow. The current total order book has exceeded 1,350 vessels, with a total capacity of 11.8 million TEU.
In 2025, average global container ship freight rates fell by approximately 13% year-on-year. Meanwhile, increased import tariffs by the United States have sparked concerns over rising trade protectionism. Nevertheless, data shows that global container shipping volume still grew by 4.7% year-on-year last year, while new container ship orders reached a record 4.8 million TEU.
Entering 2026, the container ship ordering boom continued in the first two months, with new orders reaching 102 vessels totaling 665,000 TEU. By the end of February, the container ship order book stood at 11.8 million TEU, a year-on-year increase of 28%.
According to Rasmussen, very large vessels currently dominate the container ship order book, indicating a future trend in the global shipping network where large vessels will replace small and medium-sized ones. Currently, the order book for container ships of 12,000 TEU and above totals 436 vessels, accounting for 65% of the total order book in TEU terms.
However, the fastest growth in the order book over the past year has actually been for small and medium-sized vessels. The order book for vessels under 3,000 TEU, between 3,000–6,000 TEU, and between 6,000–8,000 TEU has all doubled, while other vessel types saw an increase of only about 17%.
BIMCO noted that the order book for these three categories of small and medium-sized container ships accounts for only 16% of the existing fleet capacity. Moreover, 29% of the capacity in these three segments comes from vessels over 20 years old. Therefore, in the coming years, demolition volumes may match or even exceed new deliveries.
On the other hand, the increase in the order book for very large container ships is significantly reshaping the ownership structure of the container fleet. In the early 2020s, non-operating owners (NOOs) controlled 43% of the global container ship fleet capacity, but this share has now fallen to 36%. Given that NOOs' newbuilding vessels account for only 24% of the current order book capacity, the share of fleet capacity controlled by NOOs is expected to decline further in the future.
It is understood that the vast majority of vessels in the current container ship order book are being built by Chinese shipyards. According to a report released by Clarksons, among the top 10 individual shipyards in the global container ship order book as of February this year, eight are from China, with the top seven all occupied by Chinese shipyards. These are: New Times Shipbuilding (71 vessels, 4.0 million CGT), Zhoushan Changhong International (70 vessels, 3.7 million CGT), Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding (97 vessels, 3.6 million CGT), Hengli Heavy Industry (56 vessels, 3.2 million CGT), Jiangnan Shipyard (41 vessels, 2.7 million CGT), Huangpu Wenchong (108 vessels, 2.5 million CGT), and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (47 vessels, 2.5 million CGT). South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (38 vessels, 2.3 million CGT) and HD Hyundai Samho (42 vessels, 2.2 million CGT) ranked eighth and ninth respectively, while Yangzi Xinfu (28 vessels, 2.0 million CGT) ranked tenth.
Chinese shipbuilders have also captured nearly all container ship orders this year. Clarksons' statistics show that of the total 151 new container ship orders totaling 870,000 TEU placed so far this year, Chinese shipyards secured 123 vessels totaling 780,000 TEU, accounting for nearly 90% of the market share. The remaining 28 new orders were taken by South Korea (20 vessels), India (6 vessels), and Japan (2 vessels). Among these 28 orders, only four vessels taken by South Korean shipyards are large vessels of over 10,000 TEU, while the rest are feeder vessels under 3,000 TEU.
Currently, the container ship order book accounts for more than 35% of the existing fleet, the highest level since March 2010 (36.16%). The persistently high order book has raised concerns in the industry about potential future capacity oversupply in the market.
BIMCO stated that the current order book of 11.8 million TEU will be delivered and put into operation by 2030. Even if all vessels over 22 years old are scrapped by 2030, the global fleet will still grow at an average annual rate of approximately 6.1%. This may impose considerable supply-demand balance pressure on container shipping companies.
Last year, as new vessels ordered during the ordering boom of 2021–2022 were delivered intensively, the container ship fleet exceeded 7,000 vessels for the first time in November, just 37 months after reaching the milestone of 6,000 vessels in September 2022—the fastest growth rate on record. Looking ahead, Clarksons expects the container ship fleet to rapidly surpass the 8,000-vessel mark in the coming years.
