Call for UK Maritime Lobby

Speaking earlier this month at the Seatrade London International Maritime Convention , he called for collective lobbying action on the day after statistics published by International Financial Services London showed that the UK’s maritime services sector contributed £1.3bn in overseas earnings to the UK economy last year.

The UK is a world leader in maritime related business and collectively the sector, including manufacturing, leisure, ports, shipping and services generates £37bn and directly employs 250,000 people.

However, according to the Lord Mayor, the City of London is facing increasingly stiff competition from a growing number of overseas centres in Europe and the Far East, especially Singapore, and faces the possibility of losing its predominance within the next 10 to 20 years.

He told the Convention, ‘The Government’s current perception of the UK maritime industry is that it comprises a number of small individual groups who focus on specific and narrow issues. The industry needs to communicate the value of the maritime services as a cluster in which the diverse component parts need the critical mass of the whole in order to thrive.’

Providing a vision of what is possible, BG Tay Lim Heng, chief executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, outlined for the gathering his Government’s ongoing efforts to broaden and deepen the city’s maritime ancillary services and make Singapore Asia’s leading centre for maritime related activity. Singapore’s maritime cluster, including its port, provides employment for 86,000 people and is estimated to generate annual revenues of US $24bn.

MJ Information No 21101