Konstantinos Rokkos, Managing Director of TST International, spoke to maritimesTV about bank shipping financing, noting that it is being treated with caution by both ship owners and banks. The first are not content with the high interest rates they face, while bankers with the increased risk compared to the past.

He foresees that things will get worse before they get better and a further decrease in bank financing in the near future, noting that lately ship orders have declined by 40 percent in comparison to previous years.
For alternative forms of financing such as listed companies, or private equity, he stresses that many investors did not get the returns they were looking for in the past decade.

Rokkos refers to high liquidity, “an extra working capital” as it describes it, which shipping companies should have starting with 2020 regarding the implementation of the IMO regulation and the use of low sulfur fuels to cover the increased costs.
For shipping companies that manage a limited number of ships, finding financing for fleet growth is a difficult task and requires finding investment schemes.

Big companies meanwhile are still struggling to find financing for scrubbers, he noted.

The interview took place in the context of the celebration of the “Day of Greek Shipping Financing 2019” at the Yacht Club of Greece on Wednesday Nov. 27, 2019.

interview:Markos Kantzios

camera: studio Panos Halkidis