From water bailiffs to maritime finance, the river connects London’s past to its future, says Michael Mainelli
What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, among other things, we have the Romans to thank for the location of our country’s capital on the banks of the River Thames – once described by Sir Winston Churchill as “the silver thread” which runs through Britain’s history.
My theme as Lord Mayor, ‘Connect To Prosper’, celebrates the ‘Knowledge Miles’ of our Square Mile and, today, maritime business services are one of our most important areas of expertise.
The City of London Corporation has a special responsibility as the London Port Health Authority and, as Lord Mayor, one of my more unique roles is as Admiral of the Port of London.
In this capacity, I’ve reinstated the historic offices of the Water Bailiffs and, on 30 June, we visited the London Stones: markers of the City’s ancient jurisdiction over the Thames.
We’re working with the Port of London Authority to increase freight on the Thames, and hope to have an autonomous boat trial and a seagrass carbon sequestration conference. We’ve conducted a microplastics survey and, on 22 September, we’ll host a fun-filled Thames Day.
We wanted to do this because the fundamental importance of the maritime sector to all our lives is frequently underappreciated.
A vast global fleet of 105,000 vessels is responsible for some 80 per cent of global trade by volume and 50 per cent by value.
And, as a recent Z/Yen report – Developments in Maritime Finance – asserts “maritime financial centres – the clusters of interlinked businesses, organisations, and agencies that coagulate around maritime activity – are extremely important for national and regional economies and can contribute significant fractions of GDP, driving growth and employment throughout the supply chain.”
Over the years, London has established itself as a global leader in the provision of legal, insurance, shipbroking, and other specialist maritime services.
That said, there are challenges on the horizon for the City and the industry more generally.
London faces stiff competition not only from Singapore – which leads the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index – but also Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Dubai.
Political rivalries are increasingly being played out on the seas, affecting some of the world’s busiest transit routes.
And of course – with shipping responsible for around three per cent of global CO2 emissions – the transition to net zero gives rise to the question of how we get to a sustainable maritime future? How will the fleet of the future be powered? And how can we use carbon pricing to decarbonise shipping?
Though the decarbonisation problem is immense, I believe there is cause for great optimism – with the City’s unique connections making us well-placed to be at the vanguard of tackling this global challenge.
We lead the world in maritime education and training, the world’s major classification societies – like Lloyd’s Register – and international shipping organisations like the International Maritime Organization and the Baltic Exchange are in London, and initiatives like the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions are supporting industry growth and decarbonisation.
The City of London can provide innovative financial structures to help the sector decarbonise, such as sustainability-linked ship financing bonds, where interest rates go down where ships achieve lower CO2 emissions per cargo tonne mile.
Some 2,000 years since the Romans came to town, we must build on our history as a leading maritime centre and help find and finance the solutions for a sustainable maritime future.
Michael Mainelli is Lord Mayor of the City of London