At the start of Singapore Maritime Week the latest shipping hub survey was published. This one was authored by DNV and Menon Economics and to no great surprise given the timing of the publication the Southeast Asian city-state was crowned top once again. The ranking model created by DNV and Menon Economics consists of both objective and subjective indicators for the top 50 maritime cities across five pillars. Each pillar is weighted equally (a weight of 20%) in the global top 50 city ranking. The five pillars are: shipping, maritime finance and law, ports and logistics, attractiveness and competitiveness, and maritime technology. I don’t pay too much interest in all these shipping hub polls, but as an editor, I am aware of certain stories likely creating debate – and, clickbait hound that I am, driving eyeballs to our site. So we ran the story and I then posted the rankings (pictured, right) on LinkedIn asking what people made of them. Little did I know what a hornet’s nest I had stirred. “This is late April Fool’s surely. How can Paris, Houston or Madrid be shipping hubs?” wrote one person, while a sizeable Greek contingent expressed their outrage that Athens was not in the mix, leading one wag to compare the unfolding debate to football tribalism. “It seems some Greeks are getting more worked up about this ranking than a conversation about Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, and AEK,” commented an Australian. A few expressed surprise that Geneva was not high up on the list, with one person generously saying they were sure that would change after May 2 with our inaugural Geneva Dry which now has more than 500 delegates signed up for what we really do aspire to become the annual summit for the dry bulk shipping community. Landlocked Geneva could lay claim to being shipping’s most important city, yet it goes about its business with little fanfare. It’s important to keep in mind, Geneva is the world’s biggest commodities trading hub and one of the most important places on Earth for chartering deals. We’ll be bringing readers some highlights from our Swiss show next month. Contents Front page: Hot secondhand pricesEditor’s Comment: Measuring shipping hubsApril 2024 ReviewMarkets TankersMarkets Dry BulkMarkets ContainersAnalyst AbstractMonthly BrokerFeature: Filling the ranks at seaInterview: Mads Frank MarkussenDataOpinion: Why ammonia might not win the future fuels race TagsSplash Extra April 2024 Splash Extra Archive