< PreviousNORTH AMERICAMETALSCompanyMetro AreaCountryInv. US $MillionJobsVale Canada Ltd. Long Harbour, NL Canada 4,250 Cameco Corporation Cigar Lake, SK Canada 2,600 American Specialty Alloys Alexandria, LA United States 2,400 1,450Essar Steel Minnesota LLC Duluth, MN-WI United States 1,800 China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA United States 1,500 2,000Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities1 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, USA2 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, USA 3 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, USA 4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, USA 5 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC, USAChicago is No. 1 in the U.S. in fabricated metals,the region’s largest manufacturing sector, which employs more than 65,300 at more than 2,500 companies. The area also leads the nation in forging and stamping employment and gross regional product, and in spring and wire manufacturing employment and gross regional product.98 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SLATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEANMETALSCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsCsp - Companhia Siderúrgica Do Pecém. Matoes Brazil 5,400 Ternium México, S.A. De C.V. Pesqueria Mexico 1,100 Grupo Simec, S.A.B. De C.V. Apizaco Mexico 600 Tenigal, S. De R.L. De C.V. Pesqueria Mexico 300 Nucor Corp. Silao Mexico 270 300Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities 1 Monterrey Metro Area, Mexico 2 Silao, Mexico 3 Pesqueria, Mexico 3 Irapuato, Mexico Backed by a Mexican government support program for mining called The Cluster that was launched in 2016, investments in the sector climbed to more than $5.5B in 2017. A government report released in September 2017 revealed that mining concessions occupied more than 54.6M acres, an area equivalent to 11.3 percent of Mexico. 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 99METALSAFRICA & MIDDLE EASTCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsAluminium Bahrain B.S.C Askar Bahrain 3,500 Groupe Des Industries Métallurgiques & Sidérurgiques Annaba Algeria 1,600 Pars Kohan Diar Parsian Steel Chabahar Iran 1,600 Qatar Steel/Industrial Park Cedar Jijel Algeria 1,200 Shadeed Iron & Steel Co. LLC Sohar Oman 1,200 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities 1 Abu Dhabi, UAE 2 Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman Metro Area, UAE 3 Nairobi Metro Area, Kenya 4 Johannesburg Metro Area, South Africa 5 Oran Metro Area, Algeria 5 Askar, Bahrain 5 Sohar, Oman In celebrating the shipping of production equipment to a new factory in Sétif, in February 2018, Pan Yanlong, president of China-based carmaker Chery International, noted the stable politics, continuously booming economy, and huge market potential of Algeria, home to more than 40 million people.100 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SABU DHABIPHOTO: GETTY IMAGESSECTORLEADER IN:ities in the UAE all claim they’re trying to escape dependence on oil & gas. How many of them are suc-ceeding? Projects in and around Abu Dhabi indicate both hard and soft infrastructure is sliding into position for a redefi ned and more diversifi ed industry base.In November 2017, China’s COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited broke ground for the CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal at Khalifa Port, where COSCO offi cials also signed a new 35-year agreement with Abu Dhabi Ports Company PJSC for the leasing of a container terminal, the port’s second, with an annual designed capacity of about 2.5 million TEU.“Khalifa Port is one of the fastest growing ports in the world and an important gateway in the region, with huge potential and bright prospects,” said Ning Jizhe, deputy director of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.Abu Dhabi can move fi nancial transactions too. Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), the international fi nancial center launched in 2015, continues to take steps to cultivate local entrepreneurship, and not along ago admitted its third cohort of fi ntech entrepreneurs, bringing the total to 26 fi rms in the Regulatory Laboratory program.“ e quality of the fi rms that have been selected, primarily from the UAE, has been impressive, and speaks volumes of the strength and attractiveness of ADGM as a jurisdiction for fi ntechs to establish themselves and expand into the Middle East, Africa and Asia region,” said Richard Teng, CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of ADGM. e new Khalifa University of Science and Technology combines e Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research and e Petroleum Institute into one research institution that “endeavors to be a leader among research intensive universities of the 21st century, while catalyzing the growth of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s rapidly developing knowledge economy,” including such cutting-edge areas as healthcare and artifi cial intelligence. e National Innovation Strategy (NIS) launched in 2014 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, prioritizes the seven sectors of water, technology, renewable energy, health, space, education and transport, with the aim of making the UAE one of the world’s most innovative nations by 2021.UAEAdam BrunsSite SelectionMagazine 24.4648° N 54.3618° Eelev. 89 ft.UAEUTC+45th1st2nd3rd3rd2nd1st 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 101TR ANSPOR TATION & L OGIS TICSogistics are the backbone of global trade,” said Caroline Freund, director, Macroeco-nomics, Trade & Investment Global Prac-tice at the World Bank Group, on the July 2018 release of the organization’s annual Logistics Performance Index (LPI), which ranks countries on their prowess in the $4.3-trillion industry. “As supply chains become more globally dispersed, the quality of a country’s logistics services can determine wheth-er or not it can participate in the global economy.” e six No. 1 metro areas in the transportation & logistics fi eld this year can lay claim to being hubs for a number of industries. But their roles as hubs of movement underlie and strengthen all the rest:Campinas, Brazil, is where Azul Airlines has chosen to base a Latin American network fl ying to hundreds of cities in the Americas; where UPS Brazil this year celebrated the fi rst anniversary of its distribution center located near Viracopos/Campinas International Airport; and where Turkish Cargo just moved operations from another Brazilian location. Singapore is a nexus for nearly every industry doing business in the Asia Pacifi c. EDB Singapore notes that the world’s top 25 logistics fi rms all have operations in the city-state. PSA (the world’s busiest transshipment seaport) and Changi Airport have helped Singapore rank No. 1 in Asia in the World Bank’s index since 2007.Germany typically tops that index, as it did in 2018. And the German metros of Frankfurt and Berlin rank No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, in our rankings this year. But the top Western European metro for transportation and logistics is Amster-dam, home to some 2,000 logistics fi rms, Schiphol Airport and a history in international trade that goes back, oh, about 400 years. A newly approved pier and terminal will allow the airport to expand to handle 80 million passengers annually.Prague during the fi rst half of 2018 already saw more logistics sector space take-up than in all of 2017, reports Cushman & Wakefi eld, noting projects from Cargo-partner ČR at Logicor Prague Airport and other investments at developments from Prologis and Panattoni.According to CBRE, in 2017, Philadelphia, ranked No. 5 in our rankings, was “the top regional hub in the country for total number of transporta-tion and warehouse jobs with 137,530, a 17.1 per-cent increase since 2013.” But Chicago still takes the cake. Its position at the country’s center makes it still the pivot point for trucking and rail, and O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport between them transported more than 1.5 million tons of freight in 2016. e area’s freight sector accounts for 190,000 jobs, involves more than 12,200 fi rms and produces nearly $23 billion in gross regional product.Dubai is synonymous with Middle East logis-tics, starting with a UAE road infrastructure that is ranked No. 1 globally. In recent analysis of Dubai’s rising logistics profi le, Oxford Business Group noted Siemens’ April 2017 decision to locate a major global logistics HQ there, and Amazon’s acquisition of online retailer Souq.com, followed by a hiring ramp-up. In addition to Jebel Ali Port and its free zone and Al Maktoum International Airport, the emirate plans to invest over $35 billion in a new free zone development called Dubai South.102 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SEASTERN EUROPE & CENTRAL ASIATRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICSTop Cities1 Prague Metro Area, Czech Republic1 Warsaw Metro Area, Poland3 Budapest Metro Area, Hungary 4 Bucharest Metro Area, Romania 5 Poznan, PolandCompanyMetro AreaCountryInv. US $MillionJobsVolkswagen AG Prague Czech Republic 265 650Lidl Attica Greece 177 250Volkswagen AG Bratislava Slovakia 163 Mei Ta Industrial Co., Ltd. Belgrade Serbia 123 1,700Mv-Cargo GmbH Yuzhne Ukraine 100 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017London & South EastOsloHelsinkiDublinBirminghamStockholmMunichBarcelonaFrankfurtMadridManchesterViennaBerlinHamburgDusseldorfWarsawAmsterdamRotterdamCologneTallinnGreater ParisRomeVilniusPragueMilanLeipzigRigaBudapestBucharestLyonBratislavaLisbon200180160140120100806040200Prime & Secondary Rents – Warehouses Over 5,000 mPrime RentsRange 2010-2018SOURCE: BNP PARIBAS REAL ESTATE H1 2018 REPORT€/m2/year2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 103WESTERN EUROPETRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICSTop Cities 1 Amsterdam Metro Area, Netherlands 1 Birmingham (West Midlands Metro Area) Metro Area, UK 3 Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metro Area, Germany 4 Berlin/Brandenburg Metro Area, Germany 5 London Metro Area, UKCompanyMetro AreaCountryInv. US $MillionJobsRyanair Holdings PLC Frankfurt Rhine-Main Germany 238 810BMW Group Wallersdorf Germany 219 2,000Fedex Corp. Paris France 218 Odfjell Terminals Maritiem B.V. Le Havre France 204 United Parcel Service, Inc. Cologne Germany 200 200Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017BirminghamMadridBarcelonaGreater ParisLondon & South EastLyonLeedsFrankfurtLilleHamburgManchesterMarseilleCologneBerlinMunichDüsseldorfBristol800,000700,000600,000500,000400,000300,000200,000100,0000Cumulative Warehouse Transactions of Over 5,000m2H1 - 2017H1 - 2018SOURCE: BNP PARIBAS REAL ESTATE H1 2018 REPORTm2104 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E STRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICSTop Cities1 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, United States 2 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, United States 3 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, United States 4 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, United States 5 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, United StatesCompanyMetro AreaCountryInv. US $MillionJobsSamsung Electronics America, Inc. Austin-Round Rock, TX United States 1,000 250Oak Pin Holdings LLC New Orleans-Metairie, LA United States 800 70Canpotex Terminal, Ltd. Prince Rupert, BC Canada 775 Flint Hills Resources, LLC Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI United States 750 Pak Source Inc. Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL United States 700 50Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017NORTH AMERICABirminghamMadridBarcelonaGreater ParisLondon & South EastLyonLeedsFrankfurtLilleHamburgManchesterMarseilleCologneBerlinMunichDüsseldorfBristolBall State Logistics Report CardABCDFSOURCE: BALL STATE2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 105TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICSTop Cities 1 Singapore, Singapore 2 Shanghai Metro Area, China 3 Sydney Metro Area, Australia 4 Ho Chi Minh City Metro Area, Vietnam 5 Yangon, Myanmar 5 Kuala Lumpur / Klang Valley Metro Area, MalaysiaCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsTruly Semiconductors Ltd. Meishan Shi China 6,000 Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Hai Phong Vietnam 1,200 Fox Petroleum Ltd. Karwar India 1,005 Otot Electronics Group Co., Ltd. Yichang China 811 Shenzhen Lenovo Overseas Holdings Co., Ltd. Shenzhen China 793 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017ASIA PACIFICGoogle and Temasek projected in 2016 that Singapore’s e-commerce market will grow from $1B in 2015 to $5.4B in 2025. In a 2017 update, “We estimate that Southeast Asia’s internet economy will reach $50B in 2017,” due in part to 330M active internet users in the region.106 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SSINGAPORESINGAPOREPHOTO: GETTY IMAGESSECTOR LEADER IN:he fi lm “Limitless” considered the possibilities and pitfalls of a drug called NZT that would allow you to access your full cognitive capacity. Could a city also perform at a high level because its synapses connect at an above-average rate, with no need for any pharmaceutical assistance?In Singapore’s case, the answer is yes, though it must be said that the pharmaceutical industry has been a key to its economic success.Over the past three years, the world’s best-known nation-state has climbed up the ranks of AT Kearney’s Global Cities Index from No. 11 to No. 6. When Kearney combined results from both the Index and the Outlook sections, Singa-pore was one of only four cities (London, New York and Paris were the others) to rank in the Top 10 for both. “Infl uential cities such as these possess the right mix of factors such as business activity, human capital, information exchange, political engagement, and cultural experiences that help organizations and people to thrive,” the consultancy said in May 2018.In other words, Singapore’s smart.A study of smart cities by London consul-tancy Juniper Research commissioned by Intel found Singapore to be No. 1 in the world. Steff en Sorrell, a senior analyst with Juniper Research, says the ultimate idea of a smart city is to "increase the mobility of a city, and in turn increase its competitiveness." Policy constraints in North America and Europe mean projects move much more slowly than in Asian cities. " at’s probably one of the reasons Singapore is so far ahead of the game, because it’s a city-state,” he told me. “It doesn’t have the constraints other countries and cities have." e city ranked second as a country only to Ireland when evaluated by average job value from company investment projects in 2017, in IBM-PLI’s 2018 Global Location Trends report. ose jobs are blossoming at companies such as ride-sharing app fi rm Grab — which just welcomed $1 billion from Toyota — and in the region’s life sciences and aerospace sectors.Corporate giants like Verizon are also tapping into the city-state’s startup vibe. e Global En-trepreneurship Network and Startup Genome's 2018 Global Startup Ecosystem Report found Singapore is on a par with London and Silicon Valley when it comes to global connections with startup founders from other top ecosystems.After all, if you’re going to sustain a high-ly-networked and high-functioning economic nervous system, it pays to be the meeting place for high-performing brains.Adam BrunsSite Selection Magazine1.2897° N103.8501° Eelev. 49 ft.SSTUTC+81st2nd3rd5th2nd3rd4th5th 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 107Next >