The global new shipbuilding market is experiencing a surge of "green" trends! In the first four months of this year, the global order volume for alternative fuel ships reached 165, with a total order value of nearly 200 billion yuan, accounting for 63% of the total new ship orders, setting a new historical high. This shows that the global shipping industry is accelerating towards a new stage of low-carbon transformation, and Chinese shipyards have become the leading ships in this wave.
According to Clarkson's latest statistics, out of a total of 372 new ship orders with a total tonnage of 23.9 million from January to April this year, as many as 165 ships with a total tonnage of 15.2 million were alternative fuel vessels, accounting for 63% of the total, surpassing the 47% for the whole of last year and the historic 54.6% for the whole of 2022. In terms of order value, the total global investment in new shipbuilding from January to April was 43 billion US dollars, and the value of orders for alternative fuel ships was 26.8 billion US dollars (approximately 192.97 billion yuan), a year-on-year decrease of 30%, accounting for 62.3% of the total.
This year's alternative fuel ship orders include 78 LNG powered ships with a total tonnage of 10.6 million, 38 methanol powered ships with a total tonnage of 4.1 million, and 55 battery/hybrid propulsion ships with a total tonnage of 1 million.
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 54.6% in 2022. After falling to 41% in 2023, it returned to 47% in 2024.
In terms of shipyard countries, Clarkson's data shows that the vast majority of alternative fuel new ship orders in April 2025 were undertaken by Chinese shipyards, with a total of 32 ships worth 1.998 million CGT, accounting for 68.3% of the April 2025 alternative fuel new ship orders based on CGT, ranking first in the world in terms of order volume. At the same time, South Korean shipyards received an order for 8 new ships using alternative fuels in April, totaling 322,000 CGT, with a market share of 11%. In April, Japanese shipyards took on an order for four new ships using alternative fuels, totaling 140,000 CGT, with a market share of 4.8%.
In April 2025, Chinese shipyards received orders for 32 new ships with 1.998 million CGT of alternative fuel, 23 methanol dual fuel ships with 1.47 million CGT, 8 LNG dual fuel ships with 514,000 CGT, and 1 battery/hybrid propulsion ship with 14,000 CGT; 8 orders for 322,000 CGT alternative fuel new ships, 5 LNG dual fuel ships with 261,000 CGT, and 3 LPG dual fuel ships with 62,000 CGT undertaken by Korean shipyards; Four orders for 140,000 CGT alternative fuel new ships, three methanol dual fuel ships with 130,000 CGT, and one hydrogen dual fuel ship with 10,000 CGT were undertaken by Japanese shipyards.
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 8.2%, higher than 2.6% in 2017 and 6.4% at the beginning of 2024. Among the existing total of 2,356 alternative fuel ships, there are 1,372 LNG powered ships, 58 methanol powered ships, 139 LPG powered ships, 681 battery/hybrid propulsion ships, and 252 ships 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, 37.4% of the orders held are LNG powered ships (1031), 10.3% are methanol powered ships (335), and 1.9% are LPG powered ships (130); In addition, about 3.4% (approximately 541 vessels) use other alternative fuels, including 34 hydrogen fuel, 72 ethane fuel, 45 ammonia fuel, 14 biofuels, and 503 battery/hybrid propulsion vessels. The total number of orders for alternative fuel vessels is 2037.
With the continuous expansion of fuel selection in the future, the number of reserved ships for alternative fuels is also increasing. Currently, there are 573 LNG ready ships in the operating fleet, with 136 orders in hand; At the same time, there are 303 ammonia-ready ships, 616 methano- ready ships, and 16 hydrogen-ready ships in the hand-held orders.
At the same time, the latest statistics from DNV's Alternative Fuel Insight (AFI) data platform indicate that alternative fuel ship orders continued to grow strongly in April this year, with a total of 49 new ship orders in the month, of which methanol fuel ships had the highest number, reaching 24, indicating a sustained rebound in demand after the winter. The main orders for methanol powered ships in April were container ships (14) and passenger roll-on/roll-off ships (9), as well as one oil tanker order, indicating that the selection of methanol propulsion system ship types is becoming increasingly diversified.
On the other hand, LNG dual fuel ship orders remained active in April, totaling 20 ships, 16 container ships, 2 cruise ships, and 2 roll-on/roll-off ships. In addition, there were 2 LNG refueling ship orders, indicating the industry's continued attention to LNG infrastructure. It is worth mentioning that there were 2 orders for hydrogen dual fuel cruise ships in April, which is the first hydrogen fuel ship order since June 2024.