Singapore has maintained its ranl as the world's second busiest container port and was hailed again as the top maritime city in the world according to the Leading Maritime Cities (LMC) Norwegian report unveiled during the recent Singapore Maritime Foundation New Year event.

S Iswaran, Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, announced that Singapore maintained its rank as the world's second largest container port —  although volumes have dropped significantly behind Shanghai Port which reported a throughput of 47 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) last year.

Total cargo throughput at Singapore also rose to 599.05 million tonnes last year, up 1.4%.

During the Singapore Maritime Foundation New Year Conversations event held on January 13, the latest international benchmarking study done by Norwegian classification society, DNV and consultancy, Menon Economics also showed Singapore ranking as the top Leading Maritime City of the World for the fifth consecutive time followed by Rotterdam, London, Shanghai and Tokyo.

"Maritime Singapore's recognition in the DNV-Menon Leading Maritime Cities of the World 2022 report is a testament of the cohesiveness of the industry players across the ecosystem," commented Hor Weng Yew, chairman of SMF.

"The willingness of industry players to collaborate on common challenges — whether it is to address maritime decarbonisation or to support talent development — cannot be taken for granted. The Singapore Maritime Foundation will continue to work with the industry to build connectivity, foster innovation and nurture talent to sustain the growth of the sector," the SMF chair added.

The LMC report is compiled in cooperation between classification society DNV and Menon Economics. As before, it benchmarks each maritime city based on five key pillars – Shipping, Maritime Finance & Law, Maritime Technology, Ports & Logistics and Attractiveness & Competitiveness.