An employee in the shipyard"s marketing department was quoted as saying that the oil tanker business has seen a concentrated boom in 2026. "The oil tanker market has experienced explosive growth. So far this year, we have signed and finalized oil tanker orders totaling more than 6 million deadweight tons, and construction will start on 42 vessels within the year," Peng Guisheng, director of the marketing department at CSSC Dalian Shipbuilding, was cited in the CCTV report as saying.

　　Chinese shipyards have reached a world-leading level in oil tanker design and construction, and possess significant competitive advantages in construction quality, delivery time, and price, leading orders from global shipowners to concentrate in China, according to the CCTV report.

　　Liu Wei, a board director with a Ningbo-based shipyard, told the Global Times on Wednesday that a noticeable shift has taken place, with global ship owners increasingly placing orders for crude tanker since the fourth quarter of 2025.

　　In 2026, the shift accelerated amid the situation over the Strait of Hormuz, Liu said. "Last year, most of our new orders were for container vessels. In 2026, nearly half of ongoing order negotiations are focused on crude tankers."

　　Many industry participants have said that global crude prices will hover at a high level with the ongoing situation in the Middle East and many shipowners are eyeing orders for crude tankers to tap into the trend, according to Liu.

　　China"s shipbuilding sector posted strong growth across its three major indicators in the first quarter of 2026, maintaining a leading share of the global market, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed earlier in May, the Xinhua News Agency reported.