China’s shipyards have mounted an astonishing comeback after facing down US efforts to curb their dominance last year, as they saw orders for new vessels nearly double in the first quarter of 2026.

Chinese shipbuilders received 59.53 million deadweight tonnes in new orders during the first three months of the year, a staggering 195.2 per cent increase compared with the same period last year, according to data released by the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry on Saturday.

The surge secured China a massive 84.9 per cent share of the global market, leaving South Korea and Japan trailing in second and third place with 12.8 per cent and 1.4 per cent shares, respectively.

China’s dominance was largely driven by rising international demand, with ships for export accounting for 94.9 per cent of new contracts in deadweight tonnage terms.

Analysts attributed this boom to a frenzy of new tanker orders amid the US-Israel war on Iran, as well as fading concerns over a potential return of US port fees targeting China-related vessels.

Global orders for new vessels soared 40 per cent year on year in the first quarter in compensated gross tonnage terms, with new tanker contracts accounting for 32 per cent of total orders, HSBC said in a research note released in late April.

Seventy-five orders for very large crude carriers were placed in the first quarter, the highest quarterly total ever recorded, according to the note.