Container ship orderbook tops 15 Mteu as LNG orders dominate newbuildings

The container ship orderbook has climbed above 15 Mteu as LNG dual-fuel vessels take a growing share of newbuilding capacity, according to Alphaliner.

The global container vessel orderbook has recently breached the 15 Mteu mark. Before the end of the year, another 40 or so ‘megamax’ newbuilding contracts from Maersk, Yang Ming (both expected soon), CMA CGM, and MSC (both believed signed, but yet to be confirmed by Alphaliner) will push the global newbuilding pipeline very close to 16 Mteu in the last quarter of 2026.

While the number of vessels and the sheer size of the orderbook are impressive, it is also worth looking at carriers’ and owners’ most recent propulsion choices.

Alphaliner figures show that LNG dual-fuel tonnage accounted for the majority of orders in 2024, 2025 and 2026. Over the same period, conventional propulsion, often with scrubbers, has made a comeback, whereas ordering for methanolenabled tonnage has almost come to a standstill.

As of today, conventionally powered ships still account for 88% of fleet capacity in the water, but the orderbook share of such vessels has declined to just below 32%.

LNG dual-fuel tonnage now accounts for 56% of contracted newbuildings, while methanol dual-fuel orders reach 12%, again in terms of capacity, not units. This means that more than two thirds of the overall newbuilding pipeline is for dualfuel ships, designed to run on alternative fuel.

When it comes to the choice of alternative propulsion option, however, Alphaliner has observed a shift in carriers’ and ship owners’ technology preference: LNG appears to be the favoured alternative to conventional power, having logged 2.3 Mteu of new orders in 2026 so far. This compares to around 2.0 Mteu at the same point last year.

The aforementioned expected 40-ish ‘megamax’ orders that have yet to make it into the statistics will likely add another 1.0 Mteu to the overall LNG dual-fuel newbuilding pipeline before the year is over.

Source: Alphaliner