When Washington announced in April 2025 that it would start charging steep port fees on Chinese-built vessels entering the United States, it sent a shockwave through global shipping. Even though the fees were suspended for a year after the Trump-Xi summit in November, the damage to China’s order book was already done — and the chief beneficiary has been South Korea. This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of global affairs and Latin American financial news.
Global shipbuilding orders fell 27% in 2025 to 56.4 million compensated gross tons, according to Clarksons Research. China’s orders dropped 35% and its market share slid eight points to 62.7%. South Korea moved in the opposite direction: orders rose 8% and its share climbed seven points to 20.6%. HD Korea Shipbuilding, the country’s largest builder, reported record 2025 revenue of 29.9 trillion won ($20.5 billion) and operating profit of 3.9 trillion won ($2.7 billion) — nearly triple the prior year. It has set a 2026 order target of $23.3 billion, up 26%.
The Korean advantage goes beyond geopolitics. The country’s yards dominate the LNG carrier segment, controlling roughly 84% of deliveries since 2021 — vessels that command prices above $260 million each. As tighter environmental regulations push shipping lines toward next-generation fuels like ammonia and hydrogen, demand for precisely the kind of high-value, technically complex ships Korean builders specialize in is expected to accelerate. Analysts at Mirae Asset project a 20% annual profit growth rate through 2027 for the sector.
Seoul has also deepened its strategic alignment with Washington, committing $150 billion in shipbuilding-related investments in the United States under the “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” initiative. Hanwha Ocean acquired Philadelphia’s shipyard and won U.S. Navy maintenance contracts, while HD Hyundai secured repair work on American military support vessels.
China is not standing still. State shipping giant Cosco placed a 50 billion yuan ($7.2 billion) order with CSSC in December, signaling a national push to keep its yards full. Japan is consolidating too, with Imabari Shipbuilding absorbing the country’s second-largest builder. But with Korean yards booked through 2029, record profits fueling reinvestment, and a direct pipeline into U.S. naval ambitions, the gap between Seoul and its rivals is widening at precisely the moment the global fleet needs to be rebuilt.
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