Hengli takes top spot in global containership orders

Investing.com -- Hengli expanded its share of the global shipyard orderbook to 6.4% in July, up 0.8 percentage points from the previous month, according to Bank of America's August shipyard data report.

The Chinese shipyard became the leading player in containership orders during July, capturing a 7.9% market share, up from 5.7% at the start of 2026. Between January and mid-August, Hengli secured approximately 199 vessel orders, including 31 new vessels ordered from July through mid-August.

Global new vessel orders in July reached 3.6 million compensated gross tons, down 22% from the same period last year. Year-to-date orders totaled 50.9 million compensated gross tons, representing 87% of the full-year 2025 order volume.

Chinese shipyards continued to dominate the market, securing 81% of July orders. New orders received by Chinese yards in the first seven months of 2026 have already surpassed the full-year level recorded in 2025.

Tankers remained the primary driver of new orders, with volumes up 25% year-over-year, supported by demand across all vessel sizes from very large crude carriers to Handysize vessels. Containership orders declined in July, though large containership orders for vessels of 8,000 TEU and above rose 3% year-over-year. Bulker orders fell 30% year-over-year in July.

The global orderbook expanded 11% in volume and 13% in value on a year-over-year basis. Global newbuild prices in August narrowed the gap to the 2024 peak to 2%, turning flat year-over-year. China's newbuild price index rose 3% year-over-year in July.

Shipyard forward cover extended to 4.28 years in August from 4.26 years in July. Hudong-Zhonghua announced capacity expansion plans in August, focusing on liquefied natural gas carriers.

You May Also Be Interested In

• American Airlines cuts fourth quarter capacity growth forecast, BofA comments
• Infleqtion supports Japan's first neutral-atom quantum computer
• Freedom Broker Starts Citizens Inc. (CIA) at Buy