Singapore Tops List of Leading Maritime Capitals for Fourth Time Since 2012
For the fourth time running, Singapore has secured first place in the biennial Leading Maritime Capitals of the World report since 2012 when it was first published.
The latest report which was released at the Sea Asia conference, held in conjunction with Singapore Maritime Week saw Hamburg in Germany coming in second, with Rotterdam in the Netherlands placing third. Hong Kong was in fourth place, while London came in fifth.
15 maritime capitals were assessed based on five areas in the report. Those areas were shipping, maritime finance and law, maritime technology, ports and logistics, as well as attractiveness and competitiveness.
As one of the world’s busiest port, the Singapore port has containers amounting 36.6 million 20-foot equivalent units and vessel arrival tonnage hitting 2.79 billion gross tonnes last year.
The three areas Singapore came first in our shipping, ports and logistics, and attractiveness and competition which acknowledged (Singapore’s) relevance as a critical node within the maritime sector locally and internationally.
Maritime Technology
On the other hand, Singapore was down to the eight-place, a fall from the second-place ranking it scored in 2017 due to factors like the amount of equipment produced, as well as the value of assets delivered.
The report showed that cities like Oslo in Norway and London – which came first and second respectively for maritime technology – are more forward.
The Singapore Maritime Data Hub is positioned to help Singapore in meeting the challenges of the ongoing digitalisation of the industry.
200 maritime expert prediction concluded that Singapore would maintain its top spot over the next five years, but noted stronger competition from other cities such as Shanghai, which they sloped to rank second to Singapore in five years because of the growing influence of China’s economy.
The report also showed Singapore’s constant efforts to strengthen its attractiveness as a maritime centre, which have been well received by the industry.
