Hengli Group announced that in the first half of 2026, Hengli Heavy Industries secured orders for 207 new vessels. The order portfolio covered the full range of vessel types, including container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers, and gas carriers. Both the diversity of vessel types and the order volume for a single shipyard set new industry records, making it the single shipyard (excluding shipbuilding groups) with the most orders in China during the first half of the year.
By vessel type, the order book includes 49 bulk carriers, 56 container ships, 94 oil tankers, and 8 very large ammonia carriers (VLACs). To date, Hengli Heavy Industries has received cumulative orders for more than 500 vessels, with deliveries scheduled through 2030, and its order backlog firmly places it among the top tier of China’s private shipbuilders.
In terms of order composition, over 70% of Hengli Heavy Industries’ new shipbuilding projects in the first half of the year originated from the container ship and oil tanker markets; the company secured orders for a combined total of 150 vessels across these two categories, reflecting its continued breakthroughs in high-value-added ship types.
Notably, the company added Very Large Ammonia Carriers (VLACs) to its order portfolio for the first time during this period, demonstrating its capability to compete directly with international shipyards in the emerging gas carrier sector. Hengli Heavy Industries’ first 93,000-cubic-meter VLAC was launched on June 23; as the world’s largest liquid ammonia carrier to be built on a slipway and successfully launched, it shattered the conventional industry practice of constructing large gas carriers exclusively in dry docks.
Regarding deliveries, the company handed over a total of 40 vessels in the first half of the year, with economies of scale facilitating batch and rhythmic production. Shipbroker Simpson Spence Young projects that Hengli Heavy Industries will deliver 80 vessels in 2026, 120 in 2027, and 160 in 2028.
To rapidly process existing orders and meet ongoing market demand, Hengli Heavy Industries is operating at near-full capacity. It currently boasts an annual steel processing capacity of 3 million tons and an annual output of 300 marine engines. Its four main dry docks enable the simultaneous, batch construction of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and ultra-large container ships (with capacities exceeding 10,000 TEU), facilitating an efficient production model characterized by parallel construction and concentrated dock exits. In early June, the company revealed that approximately 30 mega-vessels were simultaneously undergoing outfitting.
Amid a thriving new shipbuilding market and a steadily rising order book, Hengli Heavy Industries is aggressively expanding its production capacity across the board. As new projects gradually come online, the company is building an industrial cluster where shipbuilding, offshore engineering, and marine equipment manufacturing develop in synergy, with the ultimate goal of creating the world’s largest single-site shipbuilding base.
Upon the completion of three major capacity expansion projects—representing a total investment of 13.5 billion yuan—the company will possess 22 shipbuilding berths, capable of simultaneously constructing 10 vessels under 200,000 deadweight tons (DWT) and 12 vessels exceeding 200,000 DWT.