Global shipping companies are moving full steam ahead with commercial vessel orders from Chinese shipyards, despite the U.S. targeting those ships with port fees aimed at countering China's maritime dominance, a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed. Chinese shipyards captured 53% of all global ship orders by tonnage during the first eight months of 2025, according to the CSIS analysis of S&P Global data released on Wednesday. That was on par with full-year 2023 levels before the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) launched the China maritime probe that paved the way for the port fees, CSIS said.