The importance of developing a national classification of maritime economies
The general policies for maritime development, as one of the key strategies of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the path of development and progress, were announced in November 2023. Estimating the size of the maritime economy is essential for planning and monitoring maritime development. To estimate the size of the maritime economy, a comprehensive and standard classification is necessary to determine in which parts and at what rates the growth and decline of the maritime economy occurs and how its size can be increased. Also, the similarity of this classification with global standards will have the advantage of being able to compare the situation of Iran with other countries. On the other hand, the existing classifications are not the same, and for example, the United States of America classifies the maritime economy in six sections and the United Kingdom in 18 sections. Therefore, it is appropriate to conduct research for the classification of the maritime economy and maritime industries and prepare a national standard in this field that is most suitable for the needs of Iran and most similar to other classifications. Some of the available rankings are shown below.
The development of the national classification is determined in accordance with the capacities and opportunities for development in each country. In order for the national classification to be able to provide comparison with other countries on a global scale, it can be multilayered and hierarchical. So that it can be adapted to other existing classifications in more detailed layers.
Considering the age of industries such as shipbuilding, fisheries, shipping, offshore oil and gas, and tourism in Iran, each of these sectors can be considered as a group and the lower layers specify the details of the classification in each group. However, it should be noted that there are many opportunities in the maritime economy that are not in these groups and have been neglected because the structure and institution supporting development in that sector did not exist. Finding these capacities and placing them in the national classification and subsequently tracking the development indicators in those sectors is one of the important functions of the national classification of maritime development.