The Leading Maritime Capitals of the World 2017 by Menon Economics
Shanghai climbs from fifth to the fourth most important maritime capital in The Leading Maritime Capitals of the World 2015. In The Leading Maritime Capitals of the World 2017, Shanghai leaps to 4th due to the promotions in Maritime Finance & law, Maritiem Technology and Ports & Logistics.
Looking five years into the future, Menon experts still perdict that Singapore will keep its position as the global leader, while Shanghai is expected to increase its importance and become the second most important maritime city. The world’s total merchant fleet is still concentrated in Greece and Japan. However, China is on the move, making Shanghai an ever more important city.
Shanghai has the second largest market capitalization of maritime stocks, followed by Copenhagen. On both these two exchanges, one or two major companies dominate the value of maritime stocks. In Shanghai, China Shipbuilding Industry combined with Shanghai International Port Group, has a combined market capitalization of USD 51 bn, while A.P. MøllerMærsk A/S traded at a total value of US$49 bn on the stock exchange in Copenhagen. That is more than world-leading companies in other industries such as Sony, Kraft Foods and Yahoo.
Shanghai is not home to a headquarter of any classification society, but all the leading classification societies have offices in the city and many of them have R&D facilities located here. This makes Shanghai home to the highest number of maritime related employees in classification societies of all the 30 cities experts have benchmarked.The port in Shanghai plays a key role in supporting the manufacturing industry in the larger region.
Shanghai’s increased importance is related to the growing influence of the Chinese economy. China has the world’s second largest economy and its export-oriented business environment is dependent on the trade of goods. China is expected to bypass the US as the world’s largest economy around 2025. The fact that Singapore and Shanghai are expected to become the most important centers for the industry, tells something about the changing center of gravity in both the world economy and the maritime industry.