Latest confirmed orders – July 2025
– Hyundai Glovis on 11 July 2025 signed a US $2.8 billion contract with China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu) for 12 LNG-ready pure-car-and-truck carriers (PCTCs), each 9 200 CEU and ice-class 1A.
– HMM followed on 12 July with a $1.5 billion deal at Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering for 8 dual-fuel 16 000-TEU container ships to be delivered 2027–29.
– Pan Ocean booked 6 very-large ammonia carriers (VLACs, 91 000 m³) at Shanghai Waigaoqiao for $1.1 billion; deliveries start 2026.
Drivers
Korean yards are fully booked until 2029, while Chinese yards have 2026–27 slots and lower prices (≈25 % discount on comparable tonnage).
Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) rules and EU-ETS Phase IV are pushing Korean owners to secure LNG-ready or ammonia-ready hulls now.
Why? – Korean yards are capacity-constrained and price-picky; Chinese yards are capacity-rich and price-competitive. That combination is pushing Korean shipping companies to place multi-billion-dollar orders across the Yellow Sea until at least 2027.
