China's shipbuilding industry maintained its global lead across all major indicators in the first quarter of 2026, with shipbuilding completion volume reaching 15.68 million deadweight tons (DWT) during the period, up 46 percent year-on-year, per official data, highlighting the country's continued strength in the global maritime manufacturing sector amid robust international demand for large vessels and high-end ship types.

During the same period, China's new shipbuilding orders rose 195.2 percent year-on-year to 59.53 million DWT, while order backlog rose 43.6 percent to 322.3 million DWT as of the end of March, according to industry data released by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Saturday.

In terms of global market share, from January to March, China accounted for 57.3 percent of global shipbuilding completions, 84.9 percent of new orders, and 69.8 percent of global order backlog, data showed.

The strong performance came as global shipbuilding demand accelerated. South Korea's Seoul Economic Daily reported on April 6, citing data from UK-based shipbuilding and shipping market analysis firm Clarkson Research, that global ship orders in March alone reached 4.06 million compensated gross tons (CGT, an indicator taking into account the difficulty in shipbuilding), up 31 percent year-on-year. China maintained the top position with a 53 percent market share, while South Korea followed with 39 percent, the report said.

Among the world's 18 major ship categories, China ranked first globally in new orders for 15 categories. In the large-vessel segment, China's international market share exceeded 90 percent for very large crude carriers (VLCCs), large car carriers, bulk carriers, and large container ships with capacities above 10,000 TEUs, CCTV News reported on Saturday.

China is also advancing in high-end cruise ship manufacturing. The country's second domestically built large cruise ship, Adora Flora City, will be delivered in Shanghai on November 6, nearly two months ahead of schedule, Xinhua News Agency reported in April.

The vessel has a gross tonnage of 141,900 tons, a length of 341 meters, a beam of 37.2 meters, a maximum draft of 8.4 meters, and a top speed of 22.7 knots. It features 2,144 guest rooms and can accommodate up to 5,287 passengers, according to the MIIT.