Comparison on competitive advantages of major world maritime clusters

Many maritime cities or regions aim to become international/regional maritime clusters and achieve the competitive advantage in regional development. A maritime cluster has various linked maritime service sectors that contribute to the development of the whole maritime industry. On the premise of this situation, a maritime cluster should strive to promote the comprehensive and professional maritime services. A key question for maritime cluster development is the competitive advantage of a maritime cluster and its sectors relative to the performance of other maritime clusters for benchmarking purposes. This research aims to identify the major world maritime clusters and their influential maritime sectors that contribute to maritime cluster development. This is conducted by the questionnaire survey and interview methods. With the empirical analysis based on professional feedbacks, this research benefits both the researchers and policy makers by suggesting the further development paths and providing the referencing examples for maritime cities and regions on their way to becoming international maritime centres equipped with advanced maritime services.