Don’t Always Bank on Your Banker

“Been there, done that” may be not be an unfair assessment of fair weather ship finance. Tales about the current industry despair count casualties and draw inevitable comparisons to the mid-1980s. This time around its departure of prominent names like Barclays, Credit Lyonnais-Piraeus and Paribas leading a broad retreat that has witnessed a thinning of the ranks of lenders / investors to shipping by almost twenty percent in the past two years. A decade ago the story was the same, only the frame of reference then was the 1970s collapse in shipping caused by the first oil shock, and names like Ansbacher, Kleinwort Benson and Warburg were heading up the run for cover. Given the time it takes to assemble a credible ship finance department and gain, as opposed to buy, a respectable market presence, it’s now difficult to believe the enthusiasm with which some of the newcomers to ship finance dove in with scant thought to depth. Does money drive shipping or does shipping drive money? It’s a question with no clear answer.

This is only an excerpt of Don’t Always Bank on Your Banker

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