The Maritime Economist Magazine Spring 2015 | Page 20

THEMARITIME Economist

INPLAIN
Ship owning countries are the richest

Concentration and specialization

The world average income per capita in 2013 was
10 416 US$. The countries that are active in different
maritime businesses are on average richer, i.e. have
a higher GDP per capita. The exception is ship
scrapping, which takes place mostly in Bangladesh,
India and Pakistan; the weighted average GDP per
capita in the ship scrapping countries is just 2 996
US$. The richest countries are those with ship
owning interests (weighted average GDP per capita of
32 671 US$), followed by those with high container
port traffic (23 080 US$) and ship building (20 694
US$).

As countries specialize in different maritime
businesses, the other side of the same coin is a process
of concentration. The most concentrated sectors are
ship building, where the top 3 countries (China, Japan
and Republic of Korea) together account for almost
93 per cent of global production, and ship scrapping,
where the top 3 countries have a combined market
share of 77 per cent and the top 4 countries even 96 per
cent (Bangladesh, China, India, and Pakistan). In ship
owning (China, Greece, and Japan), registration
(Liberia, Marshall Islands, and Panama) and port traffic
(China, Singapore, United States) about two fifth of