The Lloyd’s List Podcast: Where next for shipping finance?

AS anybody looking to renew a fixed-rate mortgage right now will tell you, these are tough times for those seeking to borrow money. The decade and more in which the outlook for interest rates were “lower for longer”, as central bankers sought to encourage economic activity in the wake of the global financial crisis, are just a memory. The new enemy is inflation, which has jumped dramatically in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Policy rates in most major economies have risen sharply, and while the forward yield curves suggest they are expected to moderate in the next year or two, we are living through interesting times. For shipowners looking to bankroll expansion, the market seems bifurcated. Those that raked it in during the post-pandemic boxship boom or are benefiting from current tanker rates, or can point to charter backing, may be finding it easier than for some time. But that isn’t most shipowners. Smaller operators are having to pay high single-digit and even low double-digit percentage point interest rates, which by historic standards represents expensive money. Increasingly they are turning to Asian leasing companies because European bankers no longer have their backs in the way that was common until the 2000s. So, for this edition of the Lloyd’s List podcast, we are lifting the lid on what’s happening in ship finance. We convened a special panel discussion for this one. Our guests were industry veteran Dagfinn Lunde, a high-profile figure who built his career at DVB, Det Norske Bank and Intertanko, who how runs the online ship finance platform eShipfinance.com; Andreas Povlsen, a Breakwater Capital alumni who now heads the maritime team at alternative asset manager Hayfin; and star lawyer Kavita Shah, a partner in the asset finance group at Watson Farley & Williams, who puts together the contracts that make the deals happen. Moderating the panel is Lloyd’s List’s very own insurance and finance editor, David Osler.