Dubai retains position as Middle East’s leading maritime city in 2026 global report

Dubai has retained its position as the Middle East’s leading maritime city and ranked 12th globally in the 2026 Leading Maritime Cities (LMC) report by DNV and Menon Economics, placing the emirate firmly among the world’s foremost maritime hubs.

The results come after one of the most challenging years for regional shipping, during which disruption to trade routes affected supply chains across the Middle East. During this period, Dubai’s maritime sector and Jebel Ali Port maintained operations and supported the movement of cargo, backed by close coordination between government and industry and an integrated network of bonded corridors, road and rail connections, and free zones.

Published by DNV and Menon Economics, the report benchmarks 50 maritime cities globally, selected from more than 15,000 worldwide, across five pillars: shipping centres, maritime finance and law, maritime technology, ports and logistics, and attractiveness and competitiveness. It combines objective data with the views of 208 senior maritime industry experts from around the world.

In a new maritime resilience assessment introduced this year, industry experts ranked Dubai fifth globally, placing it among leading maritime centres such as Singapore, Rotterdam, Shanghai and London. The report recognised Dubai's advanced infrastructure, strategic location and increasingly diverse maritime business base, identifying the ability to coordinate, recover and redirect activity as an increasingly important measure of a maritime city's competitiveness.

Abdulla bin Damithan, Chairman of the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC), said: “Dubai’s position as the Middle East’s leading maritime city reflects the vision of our leadership and a long-term commitment to building a world-class maritime sector. This year has demonstrated the importance of those foundations. Industry experts rank Dubai among the world’s leading cities for companies seeking to establish maritime headquarters.

This recognition, amid challenges to regional shipping, reflects the continued confidence of international maritime companies in Dubai as a preferred base for their operations. We remain committed to strengthening these foundations and ensuring Dubai continues to support businesses and facilitate global trade under all circumstances.”

Ahmad Yousef Al-Hassan, CEO and Managing Director, DP World GCC, said: “The true strength of a maritime hub is its ability to adapt when circumstances change. In one of the most challenging years for regional trade, DP World has drawn on those strengths to keep trade flowing for Dubai, moving nearly 1 million TEUs across the region through new routes and a strong multimodal network. We are now building on that capability, investing in new terminal capacity in Fujairah and strengthening our regional network to provide more options and connectivity for our customers into Dubai.”

Dubai recorded one of its strongest gains in the Attractiveness and Competitiveness pillar, where it climbed nine places from 15th to sixth, the largest improvement among cities appearing in the top 15 in both the 2024 and 2026 editions. Dubai led the entrepreneurship indicator alongside Abu Dhabi, ranked second globally for human capital and joint fourth for world competitiveness. Experts also named Dubai the second most attractive city in the world for relocating maritime headquarters, citing its international connectivity and strategic location between major regions.

Looking ahead, experts also ranked Dubai third among the cities expected to lead the global maritime sector in five years’ time, ahead of Rotterdam and London.

The 2026 Leading Maritime Cities report was launched at the first Seatrade Maritime UAE Summit in Dubai, held under the theme ‘Navigating the Future: The UAE and the New Era of Global Maritime Leadership’. The event brought together senior leaders from across the global shipping and logistics industry.

WAM