The 2024 Leading Maritime Cities (LMC) report by DNV and Menon Economics names Singapore as the world’s top maritime hub.
The report benchmarks maritime cities across five pillars: Shipping Centres, Maritime Finance and Law, Maritime Technology, Ports and Logistics, and Attractiveness and Competitiveness. Singapore continues to lead as the world’s premier maritime hub, with strategic investments in innovation and sustainability reinforcing its global stature.
In 2022, the top five maritime cities consisted of three from Asia and two from Europe. However, the 2023 rankings saw a shift, with three European cities now in the top five.
Singapore’s strategic advantages are rooted in its geographic position along the East-West trade route and its proximity to densely populated markets like China and India. It serves as a crucial hub for shipping and commercial management. Notably, Singapore boasts the world’s second-largest city-owned fleet and the second-largest city-managed fleet in terms of tonnage.
Experts recognize it as the prominent shipping centre and a top choice for relocating shipping operations. The city’s global attractiveness is further underscored by its significant presence of foreign ownership. Although beaten by Singapore on the shipping pillar as a whole, Athens is by far the city in the world with the largest fleet of ships.
Since 2022, Athens’ both fleet ownership and ship management have surged by approximately 10% in terms of tonnage. The city’s strengths are deeply rooted in its robust shipowning community, with Greek shipowners playing a pivotal role in the maritime industry for decades. Its maritime cluster also caters to this community, offering top-notch shipping services covering shipping operations, and technical and crew management while employing qualified local talent. However, there remains a perception that Athens primarily serves local Greek shipping companies rather than international shipping entities
Rotterdam and London maintained their second and third positions, respectively. Shanghai retained the fourth spot, while Oslo advanced to claim the fifth position.
According to the report, Singapore will remain the leading maritime city of the world for the next five years, while Shanghai will grow in importance and become the second most prominent maritime city. The leading city in the European region is Rotterdam, with London and Oslo ranked closely as the major contenders. Furthermore, the experts predict that Dubai will keep increasing in significance and is projected to grab its spot in Top 5 in the coming years.
To remind, Singapore has also secured the top spot in the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index (ISCDI) Report, for ten consecutive years.
