Provisionally titled The Maritime Services Cluster in London - An Analysis of Industry Dynamics, Competitive Advantages and Future Threats/Opportunities, the planned research will seek to provide a detailed understanding of how the maritime services cluster functions, competes with rival centres, and what measures, if any, might be necessary to ensure that London maintains its current pre-eminence over other cities.
Maritime London chairman Richard Sayer said: "London's maritime services sector is one of the most dominant but least understood of the capital's financial and business services clusters. London-based organisations play a leading role in providing ship finance, marine insurance, shipbroking, ship classification, legal and accounting expertise and a host of specialist technical and educational support services to the global shipping industry. However the sector tends to be poorly understood by outsiders and potentially does not receive the attention from policy makers that it deserves."
Michael Snyder, chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee, Corporation of London said: "The Corporation of London actively supports the London maritime services sector and contributed to funding the initiative which led to the establishment of Maritime London. We are delighted to maintain our connection with this active and important body and to fund research into a sector which is a major contributor to London and UK prosperity." The work will be undertaken by the consultancy Fisher Associates and will be published mid-2004.
