Chinese shipyards booked roughly 40% of all newly ordered large LNG carriers worldwide between January and September this year, according to Clarksons Research. That is a striking shift for a segment—vessels of 174,000 cubic meters and above—long regarded as South Korean territory.
South Korea still holds a cumulative orderbook of 173 LNG carriers versus China's 71, so the stock gap remains wide. But the flow of new orders this year tells a different story: China is converting yard capacity into market share at speed.
Hudong-Zhonghua, which delivered China's first large LNG carrier in 2008, is the anchor. It secured 36 of the 128 LNG carriers ordered by Qatar between 2020 and 2024, outside those taken by Korean yards. By 2025 it had built a dedicated LNG dock and raised annual capacity from three vessels to 11. Four more Chinese yards—Jiangnan, Dalian, Yangzijiang and China Merchants—have entered the segment over the past four years. Jiangnan delivered its first 175,000 cbm carrier in November 2024; Dalian followed in September last year. In September, Hengli Heavy Industries announced a build-first-sell-later plan for two large LNG carriers.
Meanwhile, the big three Korean yards—HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries—have their large LNG docks essentially full. That saturation is pushing shipowners toward Chinese yards as global energy transition demand for LNG shipping grows.
The real test comes in 2029-2030, when the first special surveys fall due on vessels from China's newer entrants. LNG carriers undergo tank and equipment inspections every five years, and operational reliability will be under scrutiny. Korean shipbuilders see the next three to four years as a window to widen their technology lead while they still have it.
For shippers on China-US routes, the near-term rate impact is negligible. But a larger global LNG carrier fleet should gradually ease energy cost pressure through the supply chain in the coming years.