China can build 230 tons of ships for every ton America can
Thirty years ago China had 5% of global capacity. Now it has 57%, and last year it delivered more than 1,000 commercial ships to America's five.
All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg · China Outbuilds America 230-to-1. Saronic Has a PlanFor every ton of ships America can build, China can build 230 tons. That is the capacity gap described by Dino Mavrukas, co-founder of autonomous shipmaker Saronic: about 100,000 gross tons a year in the United States, compared with 23 million tons in China.
Gross tons are a measure of enclosed space, not weight, so ships of different sizes can be compared.
The gap shows in the number of ships actually afloat. The U.S. Navy has 296 ships, below the 355-ship minimum Congress set in 2018. Last year America built nine navy ships and retired 19, while China delivered about 30. In commercial shipping, China delivered more than 1,000 ships last year. The United States built five.
Questions people ask
What exactly is a gross ton?
It is not weight, but a measure of a ship's internal volume. One gross ton equals 100 cubic feet of enclosed space, so it lets analysts compare output across very different ships, from ferries to container vessels.
Why does an American-built ship cost five to six times more?
Dino Mavrukas, co-founder of autonomous shipmaker Saronic, attributes the difference to sustained Chinese state support. He says China subsidizes shipyard building, raw materials, and labor, allowing Chinese yards to undercut commercial prices and win more orders.
How big is China's navy compared with America's?
China now has the world's largest navy by number of hulls, at around 370 ships, and is headed toward 450, while the U.S. fleet sits near 296 ships. American ships are on average larger and more capable, so hull count alone does not measure fighting power, but it does measure shipyard throughput.