China, South Korea and Japan dominate commercial shipbuilding
This chart shows the countries that dominated shipbuilding by gross tonnage of merchant ships built in 2023, led by China, South Korea and Japan, which together account for 94% of the industry.
China, South Korea and Japan dominate commercial shipbuilding
The chart shows the leading countries in shipbuilding, China, South Korea and Japan, which dominate by gross tonnage of merchant ships built in 2023. Gross tonnage (GT) is calculated from measurements of a ship’s internal spaces, including holds and deck superstructures used to carry cargo and passengers. GT refers to the ship rather than its cargo and is a measure of volume. The chart excludes warships, yachts, fishing vessels, offshore platforms and barges.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in 2023 China built more than half the world’s merchant ships by gross tonnage: 33 million GT, or 51% of the world total. That is equivalent to the world’s 150 largest container ships. South Korea and Japan rank second and third, with 18 million tonnes (28%) and 10 million tonnes (15%) respectively. Together the three countries account for 94% of the entire global merchant shipbuilding industry. A true monopoly! Russia’s share is 0.27%, or 178,000 GT, and Iran’s is 0.09%, or 65,000 GT.
The US share of merchant shipbuilding is on a par with Iran’s: it built just 73,000 tonnes of gross tonnage in 2022, less than 1% of the world total, falling to 19th place in the global ranking. The United States no longer has the manufacturing capacity or the workforce to build its own merchant ships. In this connection, let me quote the US Secretary of the Navy, Carlos Del Toro, speaking at Harvard Kennedy School in 2023: “History proves that in the long run there has never been a great naval power that did not also have mastery over commercial shipbuilding and global maritime supply.”
At one time Britain, before becoming the world hegemon after Holland, banned English trade on foreign merchant ships, allowing only English ones, and in doing so developed its own shipbuilding. It set itself the goal of having its own industry and its own ships, which became a crucial factor in its rise as the world’s leading naval power in the nineteenth century.