LSCI confirms trend towards Asia
The most recent LSCI – Liner Shipping Connectivity Index, showing a list of this year’s best-connected container ports, was published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) in July. The index covers 900 ports in 178 countries and shows maritime connectivity trends from 2006 to 2019.
Five of the top ten best connected economies in 2019 are in Asia, with Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong (China) and Malaysia rounding off the top-five list, according to the index’s criteria. China’s LSCI has increased by 51% since 2006. The index calculation for an individual port is based mainly on the number and frequency of connections with other ports as well as on the size of the ships sailing to the port. None of the ports in the top 20 list are from Africa, Latin America, North America or Australasia.
Besides the Asian hubs, European ports are represented only by Antwerp (Belgium), Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Hamburg (Germany). The port of Koper (Slovenia) took the lead among the Adriatic ports and was ranked 80th in the index. (cd)