With the increasing trend of green shipping, alternative fuel vessels are rapidly dominating the global new ship market. In the first quarter of this year, the global order volume for new alternative fuel ships reached 112, exceeding 117 billion yuan. The field of green ships is increasingly becoming an important indicator of the global shipbuilding industry's technological strength and future layout.
According to Clarkson's latest statistics, there is a total of 234 new ship orders with a total tonnage of 14.8 million worldwide from January to March this year. As many as 112 ships with a total tonnage of 9.8 million were alternative fuel vessels, accounting for 66% of the total, surpassing last year's 48% and also surpassing historic 54.5% of 2022. In terms of order value, the total global investment in new shipbuilding from January to March was $26.3 billion, and the value of orders for alternative fuel ships was $16.1 billion (approximately RMB 117.33 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 43%, accounting for 61.2% of the total.
This year's alternative fuel ship orders include 65 LNG powered ships with a total tonnage of 8.8 million, 12 methanol powered ships with a total tonnage of 600000, and 31 battery/hybrid propulsion ships with a total tonnage of 200000.
In recent years, the proportion of alternative fuel vessels in new ship orders has been steadily increasing, rising from only 8.2% in 2016 to 32% in 2021, and reaching an all-time high of 54.5% in 2022. After falling to 41% in 2023, it returned to 48% in 2024.
In terms of shipyard countries, Clarkson's data shows that the vast majority of alternative fuel new ship orders in March 2025 were undertaken by Korean shipyards, with a total of 8 ships totaling 551,000 CGT, accounting for 67.4% of the alternative fuel new ship orders in March 2025 according to CGT, ranking first in the world in terms of order volume. At the same time, Chinese shipyards received 9 new orders for 212,000 CGT alternative fuel ships in March, with a market share of 25.7%.
In March 2025, Korean shipyards undertook 8 orders for 551,000 CGT alternative fuel new ships, 6 LNG dual fuel ships with 501,000 CGT, and 2 ethylene dual fuel ships with 50,000 CGT; Chinese shipyards have undertaken 9 orders for 212,000 CGT alternative fuel new ships, 5 LNG dual fuel ships with 150,000 CGT, 2 ammonia dual fuel ships with 34,000 CGT, and 2 battery/hybrid propulsion ships with 28,000 CGT.
According to Clarkson's data, overall by tonnage, the proportion of ships in the operating fleet that can use alternative fuels or propulsion devices has increased to 8.0%, higher than 2.6% in 2017 and 6.4% at the beginning of 2024. Among the existing 2295 alternative fuel vessels, there are 1,344 LNG powered vessels, 55 methanol powered vessels, 138 LPG powered vessels, 657 battery/hybrid propulsion vessels, and 241 vessels using other fuels.
In the handheld orders, the proportion of alternative fuel vessels reached 53.0%, higher than 10.9% in 2017 and 48.7% in early 2024. Calculated by tonnage, 38.3% of the orders held are LNG powered ships (1042), 9.3% are methanol powered ships (306), and 2.0% are LPG powered ships (131); In addition, about 3.4% (approximately 533 vessels) use other alternative fuels, including 33 hydrogen fuel ships, 72 ethane fuel ships, 41 ammonia fuel ships, 15 biofuels ships, and 483 battery/hybrid propulsion vessels, with a total of 2012 orders for alternative fuel vessels.
With the continuous expansion of fuel selection in the future, the number of reserved ships for alternative fuels is also increasing. Currently, there are 569 LNG-ready ships in the operating fleet, with 138 orders in hand; At the same time, there are 316 ammonia-ready ships, 602 methanol-ready ships, and 16 hydrogen-ready ships in the hand-held orders.
At the same time, according to the latest statistics of DNV's Alternative Fuel Insight (AFI) data platform, there were 25 orders for alternative fuel ships in March this year, 12 of which were methanol dual fuel orders, including 4 oil tankers, 3 motor carriers, 3 cruise ships, 1 bulk carrier and 1 marine factory ship, which marked a strong rebound of methanol fuel after a quiet winter; There are 7 orders for LNG dual fuel ships, all of which are container ships; There are 2 orders for ammonia dual fuel ships, both of which are oil tankers; In addition, there are 4 orders for LPG dual fuel ships.
According to data from the AFI platform, there were a total of 71 orders for alternative fuel vessels in the first quarter of 2025, a decrease of 13% compared to the first quarter of 2024.
Jason Stefanatos, Global Decarbonization Director at DNV, said, "After the relatively weak winter order activity, methanol fuel has once again become the most important alternative fuel option in new ship orders. It is worth noting that the methanol dual fuel ship orders in March were distributed in different fields, with ship owners in cruise ships, automobile transport ships, bulk carriers, and oil tankers investing in this fuel. The two ammonia fueled ships ordered in the oil tanker field are also worth paying attention to. Although ammonia as a marine fuel still has some way to go, the foundation is being established and progress is gradually emerging. Although the orders for alternative fuel ships in the first quarter of this year decreased by 13% compared to the first quarter of 2024, this is mainly attributed to the overall weakness of the new shipbuilding market in 2025."