Singapore: Launched in late January by shipping media veterans at Asia Shipping Media, Maritime CEO this week celebrates its 100th interview.
Every day we catch up with a top name in shipping to gauge their thoughts on the industry, with every Friday guaranteed to be a shipowner interview. Our aim is to cover every facet of the industry, but only from the viewpoint of the top echelon of management. In our first 100 reports we have met up with the heads of:
Every day this week we bring highlights from our first 100 interviews, split into segments. Thursday sees the Maritime CEO team – with 17 correspondents across the globe – focus on finance.
How to source cash in this downturn has been a central point of discussion on this site. In our first six months we have caught up with some of the best known names in ship finance, plus a number of up and coming companies.
At the end of February we were in Rotterdam at the offices of Dagfinn Lunde, head of shipping at DVB Bank.
Lunde sees LPG, product and chemical tankers, as well as drillships and FPSOs as worthy investments at the moment.
Despite his optimism for some sectors, Lunde warned readers that 2013 will still be very difficult for shipping.
“As more companies get stretched I would not be surprised if we see more casualties this year than 2012,” he said.
Over in Hong Kong we caught up with Nigel Anton, recently relocated but still Standard Chartered’s global head of shipping finance.
Offshore and Africa are two key avenues for growth, said Anton
“Offshore is all about growth, finding out where are the opportunities,” he said, adding: “There’s a lot of old equipment that needs replacing.”
Throwing an air of caution to the headlong rush into offshore support vessels (OSVs), Anton warned: “China is now building OSVs, which could have an impact on prices.”
Elsewhere, product tankers, chemical tankers, LPG carriers and car carriers have “promising fundamentals”, according to Philip Clausius, president and ceo of Singapore’s First Ship Lease Trust Management (FSL).
In late Janaury when we met up Clausius reckoned that the shipping industry was “close” to the bottom of the downturn. However, in a more sombre tone, he warned: “Given how prolonged this downturn has been and the financial pressures faced by many shipping companies, we expect to see more restructurings take place in the near term.”
In Athens Maritime CEO interviewed George Xiradakis, the head of XRTC, a firm which advises banks that want to create international and Greek shipping portfolios. For the past five years XRTC has been heavily focused on China, in particular the China Development Bank (CDB).
Developing Sino-Greek partnerships in shipping investments in the form of joint ventures is something XRTC sees as a new growth area. “We strongly believe that in the near future the Shanghai capital market will be ready to host such schemes and will provide a lot of opportunities to both Chinese and Greek investors and shipping operators,” the finance guru said.
On the current Greek run of ship orders Xiradakis observed: “The encouraging sign on the Greek orderbook in China is not only the volume of orders but the commencement of discussions and the real focus of Greeks in ordering high tech vessels including LNG and offshore vessels. Within the next months I expect certain developments on these issues.”
Finally in our finance roundup in March we were at our editorial headquarters in Dalian talking to Wang Kunxiu, the boss of the city’s first shipping fund.
Dalian Port & Shipping Fund (PFS) was established in June last year. The RMB5bn fund focuses on logistics, shipping and port investments. In October, a chemical tanker firm, Dalian Hezhong Shipping, was formed by PFS. Hezhong acquired Shanghai Sanhan Shipping when it was established and will continue Sanhan’s liquid chemical focus.
Compared to bulk shipping, the chemical segment is relatively stable, said Wang, who pointed out that Hezhong is focused on the high-end of the market which in China is small in quantity and much higher value, thanks in part to its far stricter vessel requirements.
PFS is also planning an offshore fund, China Ports & Shipping Fund (CPSF), with interests in bulk shipping and the offshore engineering sector. [13/06/13]
