WASHINGTON, July 27, 2026 – A new World Bank report released today highlights the critical role of the maritime sector in driving economic growth and employment across East Asia and Pacific (EAP), and calls for urgent action to improve efficiency, strengthen safety, and support energy security.
The report, Ports, Ships, and Fuels: Maritime Efficiency, Safety, and Sustainability in East Asia and the Pacific, finds that the maritime sector directly employs up to 9 million people and supports as many as 18 million livelihoods across the region The sector has made significant economic contributions: every ton of cargo moved through the region’s ports and shipping networks generates approximately $155 in direct economic output, with broader multiplier effects creating between $310 and $620 of value per ton through manufacturing, trade, and household income. In 2025 alone, maritime trade across EAP exceeded 6 billion tons, supporting up to $3.7 trillion of economic activity in the region.
- Maritime supply chains are the circulatory system of regional economies. When they function well, businesses become more competitive, markets become more accessible, and communities prosper. This report is a call to protect workers, strengthen maritime safety and seize the opportunities presented by a more efficient and sustainable maritime future.Carlos Felipe JaramilloWorld Bank Vice President for East Asia and Pacific
The report treats ports, ships, and fuels as a single interconnected system and highlights three interlinked priorities—efficiency, safety, and sustainability—as critical to the sector’s future. Strengthening efficiency and safety is essential to improving reliability, lowering costs, and enhancing the competitiveness of maritime supply chains. Advancing sustainability will also require investment in alternative fuels and technologies and supporting infrastructure.
The report estimates that the region will need more than $460 billion in maritime investment between 2025 and 2040, including about $280 billion to renew shipping fleets and $180 billion to expand and modernize ports.
Mobilizing this level of financing will require coordinated public and private sector action, supported by clear and predictable policy frameworks. Together, these efforts can strengthen supply-chain resilience and trade competitiveness, support development in remote and island communities, and create inclusive, safe, and sustainable jobs across ships, ports, and marine services. The report provides a roadmap for the investment and policy decisions that will shape the region’s maritime sector through 2050.
At the same time, governments and industry must invest in people, equipping workers with the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly transforming sector shaped by automation, digitalization, and alternative fuels. Ensuring the safety, well-being, and attractiveness of maritime careers—both at sea and ashore—is equally important to attracting, retaining, and developing the next generation of maritime talent needed to support the industry’s long-term transition.
read more: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2026/07/27/maritime-transport-can-drive-jobs-and-economic-growth-in-east-asia-and-the-pacific
