Shipping shows ‘surprising resilience’ in crisis, sees financing resuming

Peter Illingworth, managing director and head of shipping Asia at Deutsche Bank, said: “The shipping market has suffered a double whammy of damaged US and European lenders, and falling values and earnings.

“But shipping has shown surprising resilience and funding has resumed due to low interest rates, support of Asian banks especially export credit agencies, new orders attracted by lower secondhand values and contract prices,” he told delegates at the Senior Maritime Forum of Marintec China 2015 on Thursday.

Illingworth noted that Asian banks, especially the export credit agencies of China and South Korea, have been actively participating in shipping finance and stepping up to replace the retreating European banks.

Liu Ya, deputy general manager, transport finance department at The Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank), highlighted that the government-owned bank has dished out an accumulated RMB638.2bn worth of shipping loans to over 800 vessels since it was established in 1994.

China Eximbank in fact focused more on shipping loans in 2009, after the 2008 global financial crisis, by setting up the transport department solely for shipping and aviation.

Liu told the conference that the bank remains committed to ship financing and is building up its portfolio on larger containerships, LNG/LPG carriers and more specialised vessels.