In 2025, Chinese shipowners maintained their dominant position in both newbuild and second-hand vessel markets globally, continuing the growth momentum seen in recent years.
According to the annual report released by Greek shipbroker Allied Shipbroking, Chinese shipowners placed orders for a total of 163 new vessels in 2025, ranking first globally. The order book includes diverse ship types such as tankers (38 vessels), container ships (33 vessels), bulk carriers (30 vessels), and gas carriers (4 vessels), reflecting a trend toward diversification in their fleet strategy.
Singapore shipowners climbed to second place globally, placing orders for 150 new vessels, with container ships (41 vessels) and tankers (28 vessels) accounting for approximately 46% of the total. Greek shipowners ranked third with 140 new ship orders, primarily consisting of container ships (64 vessels) and tankers (47 vessels). Japanese shipowners ranked fourth with 108 newbuild orders, showing relatively balanced demand across tankers (30 vessels), bulk carriers (22 vessels), and container ships (17 vessels). Indonesian shipowners entered the top five, placing orders for 79 vessels, with container ships driving the majority of their order demand.
According to Allied Shipbroking data, from a broader perspective, global new ship orders continued to shrink in 2025, with total orders falling from 3,832 vessels (187 million deadweight tons) in 2024 to approximately 2,531 vessels (123 million deadweight tons).
By deadweight tonnage, orders for bulk carriers and oil tankers declined by 41% and 38% year-on-year, respectively. In contrast, container ship orders bucked the trend with a 38% increase, becoming the only ship type sector to achieve positive growth. The gas carrier market experienced the most severe decline, plummeting by 80% year-on-year.
Chinese shipowners dominate the second-hand vessel market
In the second-hand vessel market, Chinese shipowners maintain their dominant position, continuing to hold an advantage over Greek shipowners. According to Allied Shipbroking data, Chinese shipowners acquired a total of 229 vessels in 2025, ranking first globally. Bulk carriers (158 vessels) and tankers (54 vessels) accounted for a significant portion of these acquisitions.
Greek shipowners ranked second with 179 vessels acquired, primarily bulk carriers (109 vessels) and tankers (47 vessels). Vietnamese, Turkish, and Singaporean shipowners occupied the third to fifth positions, acquiring 33, 30, and 27 secondhand vessels respectively.
Overall, the second-hand vessel market experienced a moderate decline in 2025, with total transaction volume falling from 1,686 vessels (117 million deadweight tons) to 1,522 vessels (109 million deadweight tons). This represents a 10% decrease in vessel count and a 7% reduction in deadweight tonnage.
Allied Shipbroking commented, “Compared to the sharp decline in new ship orders, the decline in secondhand ship transactions has been more moderate, indicating that there is still active buyer demand in the core vessel sectors.”
Different vessel sectors showed divergent trends: By deadweight tonnage, dry bulk carrier transactions declined by 9%; Tanker transactions saw fewer vessels traded but an 8% increase in deadweight tonnage, reflecting a market shift toward larger vessels, with Suezmax, Aframax/LR2, and LR1 tankers leading this trend; Container ship and gas carrier transactions contracted significantly, declining by 30% and 65% respectively in deadweight tonnage.