By George Georgiou 

 

Financial institutions in Asia are focusing their strategies on Greek shipowners covering the gap of the European banks that are navigating a way out of the shipping sector.

 

Petrofin Research's latest annual survey, which focuses on bank financing to Greek-owned shipping, reveals that a total of 50 banks granted loans to domestic shipowners in 2022 compared to 56 in 2021.

 

The European banks' share in the financing of the Greek shipping sector fell to 72.89%, from 74.33% in 2021 and 81.04% in 2016.

 

"The shift from European banks to lenders mainly in the Far East continued, as from the second half of 2022 onwards the lending disposition of Chinese and Japanese financial institutions increased," according to Petrofin's survey. 

 

Far East financing to Greek-owned shipping "jumped" to 8.58 billion dollars in 2022, from 7.92 billion dollars in 2021. Accordingly, European financing decreased to 37.83 billion dollars from 39 billion dollars. Overall, on global terms, only banks in the Far East recorded significant growth.

 

"Bank lenders in the Far East continue to aggressively target Greek shipowners and provide improved terms," the survey said.

 

The total bank loans (underwritten and assumed, but not disbursed) to Greek shipping amounted in 2022 to 51.9 billion USD, against 52.58 billion USD in 2021 (-1.3%) and 49.79 billion dollars in 2020. This is a trend that from, among others, emerging alternative sources of financing. According to the research, alternative financing sources and leasing houses now correspond (data until the end of 2022) to 65% of the total financing to Greek shipowners.

 

International banks without a Greek presence increased their portfolio by 5.66% on a basic basis. "The advantages of local presence have diminished over the years in light of efficient telecommunications, while the cost of physical presence is under increasing scrutiny," Petrofin underlines.

 

On the contrary, the portfolio of international banks with a Greek presence decreased in 2022 by 17.51% on a bank basis. The leading financier of Greek-owned shipping remains the Swiss bank Credit Suisse. Its share in bank loans to domestic shipowners rose to 10.6% at the end of 2022, with financing of $5.5 billion. However, its portfolio is down 1.79% on a fundamental basis after a further 12.5% decline in 2021, while the future remains "murky" following the merger with UBS.