By Rodricks Wong
How quickly the tide has turned. Just a year ago, shipowners were still basking in cheap money with relatively little difficulty in securing funds for their fleet expansion plans. Today, times have certainly gotten tougher as the torrent of bad news from Wall Street continues to ignite fears that more financial institutions will fall victim to the subprime crisis. Bankers are now advising their clients to secure financing while they still can amid a general consensus that things are most probably going to get worse before they get better.
Liquidity is no doubt drying up but there are still pockets of alternative financing sources available to the shipowners and Islamic banking is one option. Although people tend to perceive Islamic financing as a complicated way
This is only an excerpt of Editor’s Choice: Fortis and Standard Chartered for Brunei Gas Carriers
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