Monaco’s Chamber of Shipping now represents 51 maritime companies, up from just seven founding members in 2006, as a fresh wave of shipowners and shipping capital reinforces one of Europe’s densest clusters of maritime decision-makers.

The growth spurt has drawn high-profile relocations. Tor Olav Trøim, the Norwegian shipping and offshore investor behind Magni Partners, moved from London to the principality last year — and Norwegian financial daily Finansavisen reported his team and business activities moved with him. British shipping and property billionaire David Reuben, 88, has followed, leaving London after decades in the UK capital. Reuben built his early fortune with brother Simon through metals trading before expanding into shipping, property and private equity.

TradeWinds, the Norwegian shipping title, recently described Monaco as the “new darling for shipowners” — an assessment the arrivals appear to back.

Who is already there?

The newcomers land in a jurisdiction that already hosts an outsized collection of owners, managers and investors. Emanuele Lauro’s Scorpio has long headquartered in Monaco, while Eyal Ofer’s Ofer Global also calls the principality home. John Michael Radziwill’s C Transport Maritime manages around 120 dry bulk vessels at any given time from the Rock.

They sit alongside:

• d’Amico Tankers Monaco
• Hafnia
• Celsius Management
• Marfin Management
• International Andromeda Shipping
• Fratelli Cosulich Monaco
• Ineos Monaco
• Sea World Management

The chamber’s trajectory tells the story of the cluster’s build-out. Founded by seven members in 2006, membership reached 20 companies in 2007 and 24 in 2008. Today the chamber says international shipping businesses in the principality employ more than 1,000 people.

Membership now spans owners, charterers and fleet managers, plus brokers, lawyers, insurers, accountants and other maritime specialists. That mix gives Monaco something more valuable than a string of wealthy shipowners with Riviera addresses: an increasingly self-reinforcing maritime ecosystem where deals, chartering decisions and management functions sit within walking distance of each other.

Sébastien Knecht de Massy, who works for INEOS and serves as president of the Monaco Chamber of Shipping, says the hub is “thriving”.

“One of Monaco’s strengths is the concentration of key players in the industry,” he said. “Within a few hundred metres you will find some of the world’s most respected owners and the decision makers behind a large share of the global tanker, gas, cruise and dry cargo ships.”

What is pulling owners in?

Tax inevitably forms part of the attraction. Britain’s abolition of its long-standing non-dom regime in April 2025 has altered the calculus for internationally mobile entrepreneurs and investors — a shift that helps explain why London-based shipping money is finding its way south.

Yet tax alone does not explain Monaco’s maritime pull. Political stability, proximity to France and Italy, easy access through Nice airport, an international workforce and — most importantly, according to those on the ground — the sheer density of shipping contacts all count in the principality’s favour. For owners and fleet managers, being able to reach counterparties, banks and brokers face to face within a few hundred metres carries real commercial value in a relationship-driven industry.

The disadvantages are equally obvious. Office space is scarce, salaries and accommodation are expensive, and recruiting staff into one of the world’s costliest property markets can prove challenging. Those constraints could cap how far the cluster grows even as its gravitational pull on shipping capital strengthens.

What does the ecosystem look like in practice?

On October 27, Splash hosts its sixth invitation-only Maritime CEO Forum at the Yacht Club de Monaco, and the speaker line-up doubles as a snapshot of the ecosystem the principality now attracts.

Taking part are:

• CTM chairman John Michael Radziwill
• d’Amico chief Cesare d’Amico
• DHT boss Svein Moxnes Harfjeld
• Borearis Maritime CEO Christoph Toepfer
• Executives from JP Morgan, V.Group, Star Bulk and International Andromeda

For shippers, carriers and forwarders, the concentration matters less as a tax story than as a decision-making one. Ownership groups controlling large shares of the global tanker, gas, cruise and dry cargo fleets now take strategic calls — on ordering, chartering and fleet renewal — from a single square kilometre on the Côte d’Azur. Counterparties negotiating with Scorpio, Hafnia, CTM or d’Amico increasingly find the decision-makers clustered together, with the networking and deal-flow advantages that implies.

With Britain’s non-dom abolition now in force and the chamber’s membership still climbing — from seven companies to 51 in under two decades — the trajectory points to further arrivals of owners and capital in the principality, limited chiefly by Monaco’s scarce office space and hiring costs.