A new season has begun for a record number of players in the Shipping Research Fantasy Football League.
But the leaderboard already has a familiar look to it, with Landkreditt Forvaltning portfolio manager Lars Kirkeby, a two-time champion, leading the way.
Organiser Vivek Srivastava, an economics and research analyst at bulker owner Pacific Basin Shipping, said there are now 85 players, up from 68 last year.
The prize pot will top the previous high of £680 ($785) too.
Debutants include quite a few of his new colleagues at Pacific Basin, Srivastava said.
August's manager of the month was Erik Havnvik, head of shipping and offshore for the Americas at Nordea Bank.
Described as the bank’s “alpha dog” for the region, Havnvik spread the captaincy of his team between prolific duo Erling Haaland and Mo Salah, according to the organiser.
“As Erling Haaland bags yet another hat-trick, Erik actually eschewed the most common tactic of perma-captaining the Ancient Norse deity, in favour of rotating the armband between him and Mo Salah, depending on which had the most mouth-watering opposition that week. It worked reasonably well,” Srivastava said.
The Nordea man also bagged points from Malo Gusto, Bruno Fernandes and Matty Cash, a defender who contributed two goals and three bonus points.
Blockbuster production
“So twin leads and a great support cast carried this blockbuster production,” the organiser added.
The Norwegian investment banks have been kept busy in recent weeks by shipping companies launching green bonds in Oslo, and at least two are represented in the league, Srivastava pointed out.
“So, if you prefer, instead of a plain vanilla Manager of the Month prize, we could structure it with an incentive ratchet - perhaps if you could convince the stray from Valhalla to take a zero carbon mode of transport to games?” he asked Havnvik. “Fun fact: Henning Oldendorff is the richest man I’ve ever met who cycles to work every day.”
As the game takes a breather for international fixtures, Kirkeby assumed his usual position atop the league table, however.
“But, behind him, it’s more congested than the Panama Locks at the moment,” said Srivastava.
Both Havnvik and Okeanis Eco Tankers’ CFO Iraklis Sbarounis are only three points adrift, and World Fuels’ Mark Smith just a point behind that.
Last year's winner was Maritime Asset Partners' Oscar Ulstein, who also came top in 2021.
He finished an incredible 4,604th out of 11.4m managers worldwide, putting him in the top 0.04% globally.
