UNCTAD has released its liner shipping connectivity index for 2019 – 5 of the top 10 best connected economies are in Asia

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has released its liner shipping connectivity index (LSCI) for 2019, showing China retains its lead as the country best connected to others by sea, the index shows. The country’s LSCI has increased by 51 percent since 2006.

Five of the top 10 best connected economies in 2019 are in Asia, with Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia rounding out the top-five list, each with a score of more than 100, according to the index’s metrics.

At the other end of the table, small islands developing states have hardly seen any improvement, and trade in shipped goods remains problematic in those countries, with knock-on economic effects.

The LSCI covers 178 countries and shows maritime connectivity trends from 2006 to 2019. It is calculated from data on the world’s container ship deployment and released annually.

The index’s components include: the number of companies that provide shipping services, the number of services, the number of ships that call per month, the total deployed container-carrying capacity and the size of the largest vessel. This year UNCTAD has expanded the time series in collaboration with MDS Transmodal to cover more countries. The 2019 index also includes a new component covering countries that can be reached without the need for transhipment. Research shows that the absence of a direct connection is associated with a 42 percent lower value of bilateral exports.