Container ship orderbook is almost entirely in the big three shipbuilding nations : Alphaliner

The global container ship orderbook is the largest on record, with more than a thousand newbuildings and over 10 Mteu on order, equal to 31.1% of the global fleet in teu slot capacity.

China, Korea and Japan account for 98.5% of the pipeline, led by China at 7.36 Mteu (73.7%), followed by Korea at 2.04 Mteu (20.5%) and Japan at 0.43 Mteu (4.3%).

Only 29 newbuildings are scheduled from yards outside these three countries. Taiwan has 16 ships under construction, Turkey four, the United States three and India two, with a few very small vessels on order in Azerbaijan, Indonesia and Pakistan.

According to Alphaliner, in several cases there are specific reasons for placing orders outside the big three. Turkey’s two largest contracted ships, each 4,012 teu, are being built at a yard that is a sister company of the ship owner and operator. In the United States, orders are driven by Jones Act requirements for US-built tonnage on domestic routes to Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico.

Alphaliner is a commercial maritime data and market-intelligence provider focused on the liner shipping industry, publishing paid newsletters, databases and analytics for carriers, shipowners, ports and investors.