If a shipowner today orders a ship to be built in a top-class Chinese shipyard, he will receive it after 3.5-4 years.
In general, China’s major yards, which have also secured the largest volume of contracts so far in the year, offer shipbuilding berths only from 2027 onwards. Those for 2026 are now officially sold out.
At the same time, the major competitors of the Chinese, the South Korean shipyards still offer some available construction slots, with a delivery horizon of 2026, but these are clearly more expensive.
As shipbuilding industry sources told “Naftemporiki”, the price of a conventional tanker – a class of ship often preferred over the last months – is about 10% to 15% higher in Korea than in China.
The last positions in the South Korean yards concern mainly medium and large tankers (LR2, Suezmax, VLCC) and the largest LPG carriers, type VLGC.
However, we must point out that South Koreans prefer more expensive types of ships, such as large containerships and tankers, LNG and LPG carriers, to the cheaper small-sized tankers or the even cheaper bulk carriers.
A big “obstacle” in finding shipbuilding beds is Qatar’s liquefied natural gas development program, which has reserved positions for about 83 LNG carriers in China and South Korea, with the prospect of reaching 106.
The long delivery times, combined with the increased demand recently observed by shipowners, do not allow the drop in shipbuilding costs, which in most tonnage categories, remains at the highest level of at least five years.
