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Get Your Copy of the 2005/06 Shipping Finance Annual Complete With a Shipping Directory of 950 Contacts in Finance, Law, Insurance and Ship Management/Building

Posted on: Tuesday, 7 February 2006, 06:00 CST

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c32347) has announced the addition of Shipping Finance Annual 2005 / 2006 to their offering.

The Shipping Finance Annual is one of our best sellers and is now in its 13th edition. The Annual presents a global picture of the major issues at the forefront of the ship finance industry. Introductory articles for this edition include topics such as FPSOs from a legal perspective, performance risk from financiers of LNG carriers perspective, new developments in OPA, and freight futures. These are followed by individual country articles from leading maritime nations focusing on law, finance, insurance and registration. Shipping nations include: Belgium, France, India, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, the UK, and Yemen. Topics discussed are as diverse as ship mortgages and tonnage tax, to leasing and new EU shipping policy.

An extensive appendix features statistics from three leading maritime data specialists: Drewry Shipping Consultants provide data on the current ship market for new buildings, sales, and second-hand values, plus the top 20 shipping registers; Dealogic provide league tables for the ship finance market showing who is lending money to who; and Lloyds Register-Fairplay provides a sneak preview of its World Fleet Statistics, giving a breakdown of the distribution of the world merchant fleet by country of registration, country of nationality, ship type, and the leading shipowning groups. The Annual is completed by a shipping directory of approximately 950 contacts in finance, law, insurance, and ship management/building.

How it will help buyers avoid costly mistakes

-- Gives up-to -ate picture of maritime law and finance across the globe; directory of contacts

"Global shipping companies continue to experience very favourable market conditions, which have led to greatly improved earnings and cash flows. The positive effect of strong global demand for raw materials and finished goods, combined with modest capacity growth has driven utilisation rates higher. This stronger demand and supply balance has led to radically higher freight rates for most shipping segments, especially those that have a high exposure towards Asia, and China in particular. Tanker and dry bulk rates exceed total vessel operating and capital costs by several multiples. Container liner operators are also earning good profits, but there are significant differences between the different trades. Coverage ratios and cash flows for rated shipping companies have, in most cases, improved due to both strong earnings and issuance or refinancing of debt at low interest rates.

Standard & Poor's rates 24 shipping companies globally. Of these, only one-third are investment -grade, despite the extremely strong market conditions of the past few years, which have positively affected the credit quality of the companies and led to upgrades. Despite 70% of the ratings having stable outlooks, further positive rating actions are possible if market conditions remain strong and companies use free cash flow to strengthen their financial profiles.

Debt-reduction initiatives have been tempered, however, by high investment levels aimed at expanding or upgrading (replacing older vessels) existing fleets; increasing diversification in the fleet (expanding into new vessel segments); share repurchases; or high dividend pay-outs, which had been delayed in previous years to conserve cash when industry conditions were poor."

Standard & Poor's

This report is aimed at

-- Law firms

-- Banks

-- Insurance companies

-- Ship owners

-- Ship registers

-- Ship management companies

Contributors

-- Clifford Chance

-- Dealogic Loanware

-- DLA LLP Piper Rudnick Gray Cary

-- Drewry Shipping Consultants

-- IMIF

-- Kegels & Co

-- Loyens & Loeff

-- Mulla & Mulla Craigie Blunt & Caroe

-- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

-- The Law Offices of Sheikh Tariq Abdullah

-- The Rock & Partners

-- Thomas Cooper Stibbard

-- Uria & Menendez

-- Watson Farley & Williams

-- Wistrand Gothenburg

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c32347

Source: Business Wire

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