Shipping connectivity index

Lebanon 31st globally, sixth in MENA on Liner Shipping Connectivity Index 2011

Lebanon came 31st out of 162 coastal countries worldwide in the Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) released in November by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The country came in sixth place out of 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. It scored 35.09 on the index this year, up from a score of 30.29 in 2010. The first country on the 2011 index was China with a score of 152.06.

The index aims at capturing a country’s level of integration into global liner shipping networks, which in turn measures the country’s access to world markets.

UNCTAD developed its index by measuring maritime transport activity indicators in each country. The LSCI is made up of five components: the number of ships, their container carrying capacity, the number of companies, the number of services provided, and the size of the largest vessels that provide services from and to each country’s seaports.
UNCTAD calculated the average annual growth in the index in the period extending between 2004-2011. Lebanon score of 3.5 percent was the sixth highest worldwide and the third highest in the region. The economies with the highest growth rates were China (7.4 percent), Morocco (6.5 percent), Vietnam (5.2 percent), Malaysia (four percent), and Oman (3.7 percent).

According to the index, Lebanon was also number six among 76 developing economies to register the highest growth in container port traffic between years 2008 and 2009, with a 15.4 percent increase.