The Shipping Finance Sector
The shipping finance sector supports the shipowners and operators which are key players in the shipping industry and are engaged in highly capital intensive assets.  Shipping finance provides the capital for the industry to expand and meet the ever-increasing demands of world trade and is required for purchase of ships for fleet expansion/renewal, refinancing of existing assets, repair and upgrading of vessels etc.

Shipping analysts have reported the global shipping finance market to be worth about US$335 billion annually, with debt and equity financing being the 2 main categories of financial instruments used in shipping finance.  With the phenomenal growth in shipping, Singapore recognises the importance of a well-developed ship finance sector to maintain Singapore’s premier position in the shipping world. While shipowners used to mainly tap on traditional bank loans, the shipowner today is more inclined towards considering alternative, more complex, forms of financing such as use of shipping trusts to raise funds.

There is a plethora of shipping finance-related companies which has set up established offices in Singapore. These include banks, boutique shipping investment banks, private equity arrangers, shipping finance advisers and shipping finance conference organisers and publishers of maritime finance transactional information.