The accolades for Singapore’s maritime prowess show no sign of drying up. The Southeast Asian city-state has secured the top spot once again in the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index Report released today. It is the ninth consecutive year that the report – published jointly by Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, and global maritime data provider, the Baltic Exchange – has ranked Singapore as the global leading maritime centre.
The city state scored 94.88 out of a possible 100 points, whilst second on the list was maritime professional services stronghold, London, with 83.04 points. Meanwhile, Shanghai, home to the world’s largest container port, took third place with 82.79 points.
Further down the top ten, there was little movement as Hong Kong, Dubai, Rotterdam and Hamburg took fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place respectively.
This year, however, New York/ New Jersey overtook Athens/ Piraeus to take the eighth place on the list, due to its port’s exceptionally strong teu uptick in 2021, as logistics companies moved goods through the US east coast port to avoid congestion on the US west coast.
A total of 43 maritime locations were rated as part of this report, which considers port factors including cargo throughput, number of cranes, length of container berths and port draught; number of players in professional maritime support businesses such as shipbroking, shipmanagement, ship financing, insurance and law as well as hull underwriting premiums; and general business environment factors such as customs tariffs, extent of electronic government services and logistics performance.
Baltic Exchange chief executive Mark Jackson said: “This report serves as a valuable reminder of how intrinsic shipping is to global trade and prosperity. It also illustrates that shipping does not exist in silos.”
Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Quah Ley Hoon, said: “As the maritime sector continues to build up resilience and future-ready capability, we will continue to work with our maritime colleagues around the world to drive transformation, particularly in the areas of decarbonisation, digitalisation, and talent development.”
Singapore has topped most shipping hub surveys over the past decade. The 2022 edition of the Leading Maritime Cities (LMC) report compiled by classification society DNV and Menon Economics, published in January, saw Singapore retain its number one spot overall with Rotterdam second and London holding the bronze spot on the podium.
Sam Chambers
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