London tops Xinhua/Baltic Exchange index for maritime services

UNITED KINGDOM September 10 2015 5:35 PM     

LONDON (Scrap Register): London  has come top of a listing of maritime service centres published in English on  Thursday by the Baltic Exchange and Xinhua, China’s news agency, whilst  Singapore heads the overall list for its combined port and maritime services  offering.

The International Shipping Centre Development Index (ISCD)  covers 46 of the world’s largest ports and cities and is designed to bring  clarity to investors and governments on the relative performance of shipping  centres around the world.

London makes second place on the overall  index, closely followed by Hong Kong. All three cities have large port  facilities and support comprehensive maritime business service  sectors.

Shanghai has moved up to sixth place, overtaking Dubai. Tokyo  has dropped out of the top ten with Athens taking its place at number  ten.

Of the top ten global shipping centres, four are in Asia, four in  Europe, one in the Middle East and one in the USA.

The report also  provides a supplementary ranking, grading cities based solely on the breadth and  depth of their maritime services sector. London tops this ranking, followed by  Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Athens.

Commenting on the report’s  findings during London International Shipping Week, Baltic Exchange Chief  Executive Jeremy Penn said: “Singapore and London have continued to thrive for  many reasons not least because of their locations, experience, strong legal  frameworks, tax frameworks and the ease of doing business. As an international  shipping organisation with members all around the world, the Baltic finds this  report useful for demonstrating to governments the important role that a  successful shipping centre plays for any country. Ports and the professional  maritime services sector are big employers bringing international revenues to  national economies.”