Report: China named 'leading maritime nation' 2018

Report: China named 'leading maritime nation' 2018
Jamey Bergman 06 Sep 2018 https://www.tankershipping.com/news/view,report-china-named-leading-mari...

A report released by classification society DNV GL and Menon Economics at SMM in Hamburg has named China the top international shipping nation for 2018.

The study benchmarks the 30 leading maritime nations around the world across what it calls “four key maritime pillars” that include shipping, finance and law, maritime technology and ports and logistics.

Following from the 2017 report by Menon and DNV GL on the world's top maritime cities, the 2018 report shifts focus to an extensive review of the maritime industry at the national level. The 30 nations were ranked against the four criteria above, with the heaviest weighting given to the shipping sector.

A statement from DNV GL said China “is particularly strong on the ports and logistics pillar,” having the world’s largest container and bulk ports.

“The strength of China is overwhelming,” the report's co-author Menon Economics managing partner Erik W Jakobsen said. “It should not surprise us, though, since China is the largest exporting and importing country in the world.”

The US came second in the ranking followed by Japan. Germany, Norway and South Korea share fourth place. Germany placed in the top five in three categories, Norway excelled in maritime finance and law and maritime technology, South Korea topped the maritime technology category.

“For the top three maritime nations, the study’s rankings mirror the size of their national economies,” DNV GL Maritime regional head Shahrin Osman, who co-authored both the 2017 and 2018 reports said.

“Interestingly however, from the joint fourth position of Norway, South Korea, and Greece in the seventh position, we can see that smaller economies can still have an outsize influence and importance to the maritime world.”