Full Breakdown
China Builds More Than Twice the Naval Tonnage of the United States in 2024-25
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China’s Shipbuilding Surge in 2024-25
The World Defense Shipbuilding report released by Euronaval shows that Chinese shipyards produced 636,208 tons of combat vessels in the two-year period ending December 2025. U.S. shipyards delivered 270,509 tons in the same span, meaning China’s output was more than double that of the United States. The report also notes that China accounted for over one-third of all global naval construction tonnage during the period.
Comparative Production and Fleet Sizes
Despite the construction gap, the total combat-vessel fleet as of early 2026 still favored the United States, with 3.11 million tons compared with China’s 1.44 million tons. Two years earlier the U.S. fleet measured 3.22 million tons versus China’s 1.30 million tons, indicating a widening disparity in new builds while the overall fleet size gap remains.
Global Naval Construction Trends
Worldwide, shipbuilding activity rose sharply, reaching 1.47 million tons of combat vessels in 2024-25, up from 959,671 tons in the preceding two years. The monetary value of this output climbed to $123.9 billion, a rise from $81.8 billion in 2022-23. China’s share of that value was $43.5 billion, compared with $26.8 billion for the United States.
Official Commentary
Philippe Missoffe, general director of the French maritime industry association Gican, highlighted the scale of the expansion:
“We are seeing a fairly substantial expansion of naval forces, and consequently of shipbuilding,” — Philippe Missoffe, the general director of Gican, in a press briefing here on Tuesday
Implications and Upcoming Euronaval Exhibition
Analysts and U.S. congressional staff warn that China’s accelerating shipbuilding capacity, combined with reported delays in U.S. programs, could challenge America’s ability to maintain naval parity. The Euronaval maritime-defense exhibition in Paris, scheduled for early November, is expected to feature more than 40 % more exhibitors than the previous year, underscoring heightened interest in naval capabilities worldwide.