Bravo Ardmore Shipping. Bravo Euronav, Navigator Gas Holdings and Kirby Corp.

For shame DryShips. For shame StealthGas, Scorpio Bulkers and Scorpio Tankers.

These companies represent the best and worst of corporate governance in the first-ever attempt to rank shipowners objectively on issues such as related-party conflicts, insider commissions and director independence.

But what has sent ripples through shipfinance circles this week even more than the rankings themselves is the boldness of the attempt by Wells Fargo Securities equity analyst Michael Webber to quantify objectively the behaviour of public shipowners.

In