Chinese contractors occupy the top three spots in International Construction’s Top 200 ranking.

China State Construction Engineering Corporation overtook the country’s two largest railway contractors to claim the top spot.

Two other Chinese contractors – China Communications Construction Group and China Metallurgical Group (MCC) were also ranked in the top 10.

They were joined by Vinci, ACS, Bouygues and Hochtief from Europe, while Bechtel was the only US contractor in the top ten.

The highest-placed Japanese construction company was Daiwa House at no.12.

Total revenues for the top 200 contractors came in at US$ 1.48 trillion – a 13% increase from the previous year.

But profitability, as measured by the average operating margin of the group of companies, was down on the previous year by 0.1% to 4.6%.

Total employment among the Top 200 was estimated at 4.75 million people – a 4.6% increase on the previous year’s figure of 4.54 million employees.

The report’s author, Chris Sleight said: “The slowdown in Chinese construction activity has clearly had an impact on this year’s rankings, but there was still growth for many of the country’s largest contractors last year”

The top 20 companies in this year’s Top 200 ranking:

China State Construction & Engineering Corp -China

China Railway Construction Corporation -China

China Railway Group -China

Vinci – France

China Communications Construction – China

ACS – Spain

China Metallurgical Group (MCC) – China

Bouygues’ Construction Divisions – France

Bechtel – US

Hochtief – Germany

Fluor – US

Daiwa House – Japan

Leighton Holdings – Australia

Eiffage – France

Sekisui House -Japan

Strabag – Austria

Skanska – Sweden

Kajima Corporation – Japan

Sinohydro – China

Saipem – Italy