Market sees higher ship refinancing amid conflicts between US and China

[SINGAPORE] With the US levying fees on Chinese-related vessels and China retaliating with tit-for-tat port fees on US-affiliated ships, the shipping market is now experiencing a wave of refinancing activity.

Likely beneficiaries of the spat are shipowners that are neither Chinese nor American, such as Singapore-based players.

Ali Susanto, global head of corporate finance at the world’s largest privately owned ship broker SSY, told The Business Times that there is a flurry of refinancing going on in the market, triggered by port fees levied by the US and China on vessels linked to each other.