Global shipping loan portfolios drop to $345bn

Chinese banks make the headlines by occupying the top two slots in Petrofin Bank Research’s new survey of global bank lending to the shipping industry, but behind the figures it is noticeable that few of the top-ranked institutions have avoided trimming their portfolios compared with a year earlier. The survey notes that the decade-old decline in lending may be bottoming out as markets improve and banks’ results from the sector brighten up, but Petrofin still anticipates leasing and funds to increase in importance as financing sources for shipowners