Shipping must face new future – Slater

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Mr Slater argued that “shipping companies must consolidate their operations into larger corporate entities to attract new capital and offer cargo owners a range of ship sizes and services to meet their changing needs”.
Securing the funds for that process might be difficult, with debt financing likely to remain tight for the next five years and shipping’s experience with the public markets over recent years hardly the best calling card.
Although several billion dollars of new equity was generated, the boom years also saw the emergence of listed shipping companies “with no track record and little operating experience and investors focusing only on ship types and spot market rates”.
He added: “Well-established and well-capitalised companies have seen their market values crash along with the sharp downturn in the spot markets, while the shares of highly-speculative companies have become the favourites of the day traders.”
Yet Mr Slater said there was plenty of private capital available without resorting to the public markets and the private shareholders who invest for long-term returns would differentiate between different companies.