GENERALIZATION OF EXPERIENCE IN THE APPLICATION OF FINANCING SOURCES FOR CONSTRUCTION OF VESSELS

Article presents a brief overview of recent transformations in the maritime transport development financing sector, in which a certain place is given to direct investments and their increased role after the global financial and economic collapse of 2008 year.Within a few years of collapse of 2008, private equity funds entered the shipping sector and showed increasing interest, filling the gap in traditional bank financing at the time. In the period of 2011-2012, private equity funds financed at least 22 deals in the shipping industry for a total amount of more than 6.4 billion dollars. This, then new, source of capital was highly valued by the industry, which has faced the rigidity of conditions in the credit market and low of charters rates and suffered heavy losses. Prior to 2008, mobilizing finance in this sector was not too difficult as the industry was experiencing a period of sustained growth at historically high freight rates. Many shipping companies expanded and placed long-term orders for the construction of a large number of new vessels. In the period 2003-2008, there was a boom in the market for the construction of new vessels − the amount of orders reached 800 billion dollars, and half of the orders were placed in 2007-2008. It was not difficult to get a bank loan of up to 80% of the cost of a new vessel. Most of the new vessels were supposed to be launched within a few years of the 2008 financial crisis. After 2008, as a result of the low growth rates of global demand for goods and the arrival of new construction vessels on the market charter rates collapsed in most markets. This was followed by a precipitous drop in the value of vessels, and the shipping industry fell into a streak of losses, non-repayment of loans and bankruptcies. In this situation, private equity funds seem to be extremely important to ensure the growth of the sector and can influence its development in a number of directions, including as a result of consolidation and vertical integration of transport services. This will require increasing the efficiency of the sector and creating companies with a stronger financial position.Keywords: investment transformations; financial and economic crisis; fleet building; Kommanditgesellschaft; direct investment funds.