Panama has registered 4,828 merchant ships under its flag in the past four years, remaining the world's leader in ship registry, the national port authority says. The figure at the end of last year is up by 1,556 ships over the previous four-year period ending in 1994, Xinhua reports.

Panama still has the largest number of registered ships worldwide - 8,665 with a gross tonnage of 101.7 million tonnes.

In the past four years, shipping has generated US$202.6 million, or 78 per cent of Panama's tax revenues.