China builds more merchant ships than the rest of the world combined.
A new report from Intermodal magazine and Clarksons Research states, “Through government support and public investments to its national shipbuilding eco-system, China emerged as a market leader, commanding currently 65% of global shipbuilding orders,” as reported Dec. 5 by Sam Chambers.
In 2000, China’s share of the world’s shipbuilding order book was less than 10%, while that of South Korea was 46% and Japan was 34%. Combined, Japan and Korea together produced 80% of the world’s merchant vessels in 2000.
