Splash’s finance columnist Dagfinn Lunde has told Reuters that German banks account for nearly one quarter of the world’s $400bn shipping loans, leaving them in a very exposed state.
“German banks account for close to $100bn of shipping debt out of a world total of around $400bn,” Lunde said. Lunde’s career included more than a decade as head of shipping at Germany’s DVB Bank.
Reuters said two other ship finance experts had backed up Lunde’s statistics.
Writing on the topic of German ship finance for Splash last week, Lunde noted: “German banks have been badly burned by shipping and are now adopting a once bitten, twice shy approach to the sector. They are dealing with a lot of problem loans and management at the banks and public owners will not want much new shipping loan business on their books for the foreseeable future.”
