Singapore continues to be the world’s leading maritime centre

Singapore has been ranked as the top global shipping centre for the eighth year running, a new report found.

As explained, Singapore has been rated as the top location due to the size of its port, number of internationally-focused shipbrokers, financiers, lawyers and insurers based there and its supportive government policies.

This was revealed in the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index, published by the Baltic Exchange and Xinhua.

“Singapore is honoured to once again top this … index of global maritime locations. It is an effort of not one but an eco-system of many strong partners. The strong support from our port operators, industry partners, associations and unions has enabled Maritime Singapore to serve the needs of the sector and play its part to keep the global supply chain running amidst the COVID-19 pandemic,” Quah Ley Hoon, Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), commented.

“We will continue to work closely with our partners to provide a comprehensive suite of marine services, as well as a supportive business environment for shipping and maritime services. This includes supporting the industry on its immediate challenges facing seacrew, and its transformation along digitalisation, decarbonisation and capability development.”

Despite a significant drop in global trade and business disruptions in 2020 due to the pandemic, the relative positions of the world’s leading maritime centres have remained unchanged. London, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Dubai were the next four strongest centres, as they were the prior year.

Top ten locations remained largely unchanged since 2020, despite the impact of COVID-19, and features four Asian, four European, one Middle East and one United States location.

Specifically, the rankings take in port factors including cargo throughput, number of cranes, length of container berths and port draught; number of players in maritime support businesses such as shipbroking, ship management, 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 administration, ease of doing business and logistics performance.

Overall, 43 locations were rated with Singapore achieving a score of 97.2. The average score for a location was 58.8 points.

“This year’s rankings were made on the back of the global pandemic and major disruptions to lives and businesses around the world. Notwithstanding these challenges, the huge infrastructure of people and equipment that supports the global seaborne movement of billions of tonnes of trade held strong. We commend each and every maritime centre covered in the rankings as they have all played an integral role in facilitating these trade flows,” Mark Jackson, Baltic Exchange Chief Executive, said.