Finance Activities News

Nordea Bank aims to increase shipping finance activities to the growing liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, executives at one of the world's biggest shipping financiers said.China's crackdown on pollution and its growing demand for more environmentally friendly sources of power, such as LNG, are boosting demand for ships to transport the fuel."We would like to expand the portfolio and there are certain segments that we would like to expand in. One of them is on the LNG side…

Seanergy Maritime Holdings announced that it has successfully completed the refinancing of a previous loan facility secured by M/Vs Lordship and Knightship. Both vessels are Capesize bulk carriers built in 2010 in South Korea, purchased by Seanergy in 2016. The original maturity of the Facility was December 2019. M/V Knightship was refinanced in June 2018 through a sale and leaseback transaction with AVIC International Leasing Co., Ltd., a major Chinese state-owned financing institution. Seanergy sold and chartered the vessel back on a bareboat basis for an eight year period, having a purchase obligation at the end of the eighth year. The Company has the option to repurchase the vessel at any time following the second anniversary of the bareboat charter party.

German banks are struggling to recoup tens of billions of dollars of loans as a global shipping industry slump hits them hard. The lenders - among the biggest backers of shipowners over the past 20 years - are behind up to a quarter of the world's $400 billion of outstanding shipping loans, three shipping financiers told Reuters. This would make them collectively more exposed than banks from any other single country in terms of outstanding debt to the sector. These institutions…

The full economic impact of the U.K. marine industry and spend associated with boating participation was estimated to total £6.2 billion in 2012/13, according to a new report released by the British Marine Federation (BMF). Latest industry trends results also announced by the BMF show encouraging signs of an upward trend for this key contributor to the U.K. economy. The two reports are announced in a week when the U.K. leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine industry came together at the BMF’s annual conference in Liverpool. In addition to highlighting the impressive £6.2 billion contribution, the BMF’s Economic Benefits of the U.K.

Ole Sanne has accepted the new position of CCO at Ocean Installer, and Jim Dåtland will join Ocean Installer as the new CFO. Mr. Sanne and Mr. Dåtland enter their new positions mid-February 2013. Mr. Sanne has been with Ocean Installer since the company’s inception and has more than 15 years of experience from the subsea sector, of which 12 years in senior managerial positions, including as Finance and Company Director for Subsea 7 Norway. Mr. Dåtland has spent the last seven years with the offshore drilling contractor Seadrill Limited focusing on investor relations and corporate finance activities. Seadrill has grown to become the world`s largest driller by market capitalization and enterprise value.

In an apparent flexing of newfound muscles, the European Union is picking another trade fight with the United States, threatening to file a World Trade Organization complaint against the U.S. over fees on cargo ships at U.S. ports, increasing tensions between the two trading giants. In a letter released last Tuesday, European Commission vice president Leon Brittan said harbor fees proposed by the Clinton administration, like those they would replace, constituted an unfair tax on European shipping lines, container vessels and their cargoes. "This discriminatory application of a fee that is not justified in the first place simply cannot continue," Brittan told U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky. If a settlement is not reached by Jan.