Despite the global financial crisis, China's completed shipbuilding output in 2009 surged by more than 40 percent, with its share in the global market rising further. In 2009, China overtook South Korea as the country with the largest volume of newly-undertaken ship orders.
According to the latest statistics, in 2009 China's completed shipbuilding output totaled 42.43 million deadweight tons (dwt), up 47 percent year on year; meanwhile, newly-undertaken ship orders in China in the year in question amounted to 26 million deadweight tons, down 55 percent. By the end of December 2009, ship orders in hand came to 188.17 million deadweight tons, down eight percent compared with the end of 2008. Moreover, China's completed shipbuilding output, newly-undertaken ship orders and orders in hand accounted for respective shares of 34.8 percent, 61.6 percent and 38.5 percent of the world market, up 5.3 percentage points, 23.9 percentage points and three percentage points year on year.