From January to October 2025, the world received a total of 948.70 million deadweight tons of new ship orders, a year-on-year decrease of 44.5%.
The trend of global new ship orders since 2005
Data source: Clarksons, compiled by the Economic Research Center of China State Shipbuilding Corporation
From the perspective of ship type classification, container ships are the only type that saw an increase year-on-year. A total of 410.62 million deadweight tons were sold, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.9%, accounting for 43.3% of all orders during the same period. Oil tankers, bulk carriers, and liquefied gas carriers all saw a year-on-year decline of more than 50%. Since the beginning of this year, the high new ship prices have been offset by the low freight rates. Coupled with the impact of the US tariff policies and the 301 investigation restrictions, the wait-and-see sentiment of shipowners has intensified. Global new ship orders have significantly shrunk. However, the new ship orders for the whole year are still expected to reach around 120 million deadweight tons,remaining at a historically good level.
The trend of global new ship prices since 202
Data source: Clarksons, compiled by the Economic Research Center of China State Shipbuilding Corporation
It is worth noting that since the beginning of this year, orders for liquefied natural gas (LNG) transport ships have significantly declined, while orders for LNG refueling ships have grown strongly. From January to October 2025, a total of 42 LNG transport ships with a capacity of 359.2 million cubic meters were contracted globally, a year-on-year decrease of 76.2%, far less than the 93 ships and 1601.4 million cubic meters contracted in 2024. However, from January to October 2025, global orders for LNG refueling ships reached 24 vessels and 44.8 million cubic meters, exceeding the 16 vessels and 28.4 million cubic meters of orders in 2024, continuing to set a new record high.
The trend of new LNG vessel orders globally
Data source: Clarkson, Economic Research Center of China State Shipbuilding Corporation
The decline in LNG carrier orders is attributed to limited export project decisions, low freight rates, and pressure on capacity growth. In 2025, the number of LNG export projects that have reached final investment decisions is limited, directly suppressing the new construction demand for LNG carriers. Moreover, due to the concentrated delivery of new ships in the past two years, the market capacity is oversupplied, resulting in pressure on spot freight rates, which further inhibits new ship orders. From January to October 2025, the average spot freight rates for 160,000 cubic meters and 174,000 cubic meters LNG carriers were $16,494 and $27,886 per day respectively, down by 65.5% and 53.7% year-on-year; the one-year charter rates were $19,659 and $35,182 per day respectively, down by 67.3% and 53.7% year-on-year.
The growth in LNG refueling vessel orders is attributed to the steady expansion of the dual-fuel-powered fleet. LNG fuel still holds a dominant position among low-carbon and zero-carbon fuels, and the market has a favorable expectation for the steady expansion of the LNG dual-fuel-powered fleet. Since 2020, the proportion of LNG-fueled vessels in new ship orders has significantly increased. From January to October 2025, the proportion of LNG-fueled vessels in green ships continued to remain above 60%.
The trend of new LNG refueling vessel orders worldwide
Data source: Clarkson, Economic Research Center of China State Shipbuilding Corporation
Currently, the prices of new ships remain at historically high levels, but there are signs of a slight decrease at the high point. The new ship price index for October closed at 184.9 points, down 2.4% from the beginning of the year and a 2.5% year-on-year decrease. From the perspective of ship types, the new ship price indices for container ships, oil tankers, bulk carriers, and liquefied gas carriers closed at 115.7 points, 211.8 points, 167.4 points, and 198.6 points respectively, down 2.4%, 5.0%, 3.3%, and 3.5% from the beginning of the year, and a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%, 5.1%, 4.5%, and 4.4% respectively. Looking at the future trend, although the current new ship prices have loosened due to the shrinking transaction volume, the positive factors on both the supply and demand sides, such as the dismantling of old ships, the release of demand for green ships, and the short-term difficulty of significant expansion of high-quality shipbuilding capacity, continue to support the new ship prices maintaining a relatively high position in history.