Is Søren Skou more influential than Xu Lirong? Does John Fredriksen deserve to outrank John Angelicoussis? Do cargo interests like Cargill's Jan Dieleman belong on the list at all?
This year’s newly released Lloyd’s List Top 100 most influential people in shipping reflects the fact that disruption and uncertainty continue to reshape business strategy and, in many ways, have led to a retrenchment in activity. But it also reflects a more realistic outlook ready for real change.
Catastrophic and Gloomy
'Last year’s edition argued that it would be exogenous events, not self-inflicted folly, that would drive industry fortunes in 2016. By and large, we have been proved right,' Lloyd’s List managing editor Richard Meade says. In a market that, even in the most optimistic analysis, has only risen from ‘catastrophic’ to ‘gloomy’ in the best sectors and headed in the opposite direction for most others, nobody is claiming to have had a good year.
'None of the industry figures on our list this year have escaped unscathed by the problems facing the rest of the market, but it is fair to say that some strategies have fared considerably better than others,' Meade says.
Ranking
Through analysing industry events and business decisions of the past twelve months, as well as the context around them, the Lloyd’s List team has created this year’s Top 100 ranking.
'Our ranking is borne out of a collective editorial discussion within the Lloyd’s List newsroom and it is our intention to produce a useful snapshot of the forces at play within our industry and some forward-looking nods to the trends into which each profile delves,' Meade adds. 'It is, we hope, a compelling annual examination of our industry and the personalities that drive it forward.'
