China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding is pushing ahead with another major expansion of its Changxing Island facilities as the country’s yards race to add capacity amid an extraordinary newbuilding boom.

The CSSC-controlled yard plans to extend its No.2 drydock by 220 m， taking it from 440 m to 660 m， matching the length of the neighbouring No.1 dock.

The RMB394.5m ($57m) project will also add two new assembly areas covering a combined 27，180 sqm， extend crane rails by more than 220 m and upgrade ship-handling systems and supporting infrastructure. Shanghai environmental authorities gave the scheme the green light at the start of the year.

Further assembly space is also being added alongside the extended dock， with another two areas covering more than 20，000 sq m planned together with extensions to the yard’s 700-tonne gantry crane tracks and new power infrastructure.

The enlarged dock is designed to allow Hudong-Zhonghua， one of China’s largest yards， to use semi-tandem construction methods for large containerships and other high-value vessels， while giving the yard greater flexibility to handle its rapidly expanding LNG carrier workload.

Hudong-Zhonghua is already in the middle of a dramatic capacity ramp-up.

Chairman Chen Jianliang has laid out ambitions to double capacity during China’s current five-year plan through 2030. The yard had 57 LNG carriers on order at the start of the year， accounting for nearly 22% of the global LNG carrier orderbook by capacity， while its total backlog was worth more than RMB150bn ($21.8bn) at the end of 2025.

The LNG tally has since climbed towards 60 ships， with production slots stretching beyond 2030. Hudong-Zhonghua is also building the first of QatarEnergy’s giant 271，000 cu m QC-Max LNG carriers， the largest ships of their type yet ordered.

Shanghai wants Changxing Island to have annual capacity for 18 ultra-large LNG carriers by 2027， while high-tech vessels such as LNG carriers and dual-fuel containerships are targeted to account for 80% of the island’s shipbuilding output.

Hudong-Zhonghua’s expansion is part of a much wider Chinese yard building spree.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding is investing RMB3bn in its new Yangzi Hongyuan facility， due to be completed later this year， while other Chinese builders are reopening dormant yards， acquiring additional sites and enlarging docks as forward cover pushes into 2030.

Chinese yards took 82.3% of all new orders placed globally in the first half of 2026， while accounting for 62.2% of completions and 71.2% of the global orderbook. New orders at Chinese yards jumped 173.1% year-on-year.