Why London is a ‘very positive’ story for UK shipping

The head of UK shipping’s key trade body has given a significant vote of confidence in London as a hub for the global maritime industry.

“It’s a very positive story… the shipping industry in London in particular is very vibrant,” Rhett Hatcher, chief executive of the Chamber of Shipping, said.

Hatcher was speaking to City A.M. at the annual Shipping UK conference in Westminster, in which hundreds of executives from across the globe descend on London to discuss key issues.

“London is banking, it’s insurance, P&I clubs. All that gearing that makes shipping successful, effectively successful, is centred here.”

More vessels are fixed through UK-based shipbrokers, more capital provided via London banks and funds and more vessels are insured in the UK capital than anywhere else in the world, according to Maritime London.

It is also home to a profilic legal sector, with English law applied to more shipping disputes than that of any other country.

Hatcher’s comments also highlight the vital role the UK capital plays in facilitating freight transport and international trade, amid competition from the likes of New York, Tokyo and Oslo.

More than a quarter of the UK’s deep sea shipping cargo travels through London Gateway port, with capacity expected to expand by nearly a third this decade.

“There are a number of international surveys tracking the most successful port cities, maritime cities… London’s never outside of the top three,” Hatcher said.

The vote confidence in London’s shipping scene comes at a time of great disruption in the UK’s maritime sector.

Global issues include rising geopolitical tension, conflict in the Red Sea and the ongoing push to decarbonise have impacted major shipping firms and retailers alike.

UK shipbuilding has also faced an existential threat this summer after the demise of Harland & Wolff, the Belfast shipyard which built the Titanic.

The firm recently fell into administration for the second time in half a decade, following months of financial struggle.

Its collapse has put at risk a £1.6bn government contract to build Royal Navy warships, presenting the real possibility they may now have to be built by in Spain, by Harland’s rival Navantia.

The fallout has centred around both the company’s leadership, many of which have departed in recent months, and the new Labour government, which failed to guarantee a £200m UKEF loan seen as critical to its survival.

But Hatcher noted the difficulties faced by the UK shipbuilding industry. “It’s a really challenging market, much more than it probably has been before” he said, noting in particular growing overseas competition in the Asia Pacific region. “Those surviving industries in the UK are having to work extremely hard to compete.”

The shipping executive would not comment on whether the sector would bounceback from Harland’s demise.

He argued the UK has a “very long history” in the maritime sector but said he would not comment on what was “around the next corner.”