Dry Bulk Market: China’s Energy Transition Could Spell Lower Demand in Hellenic Shipping News 16/06/2026 D emand for dry bulk cargoes could be set for a new reality, as a result of China’s ongoing energy transition towards cleaner fuels. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Intermodal said that “China’s power mix is still dominated by coal, but the direction of travel is becoming harder to ignore. In 2025, China generated around 10,575 TWh of electricity. Thermal power, still accounted for about 6,327 TWh. This means that coal remains the central part of the country’s power system. It is not being replaced quickly, and it would be wrong to suggest that China is moving away from coal in absolute terms in the near future. What is changing is the marginal source of growth. In 2020, China generated roughly 2,083 TWh from renewables, if we define renewables as hydro, wind and solar. By 2025, that had increased to about 3,763 TWh. In five years, renewable generation rose by around 1,680 TWh, or roughly 80%. That increase alone is larger than the total annual electricity generation of many major economies”. Source: Intermodal According to Mr. Yiannis Parganas, Head of Research Department, “the composition of that growth is also important. Hydro remains large, but it is no longer the main driver. Hydropower generation increased only moderately, from around 1,355 TWh in 2020 to 1,462 TWh in 2025. The real change came from wind and solar. Wind generation rose from about 467 TWh to 1,128 TWh. Solar rose from around 261 TWh to 1,173 TWh. Solar generation therefore increased more than fourfold in five years. Nuclear power adds another layer to this shift. It is smaller than wind, solar or hydro in the current mix, but it is growing from a more stable base because it can provide high-utilisation, low-carbon generation. In 2025, China produced about 485 TWh of nuclear electricity, equal to around 4.6% of total generation. China had 60 operating reactors and 58.7 GW of nuclear c