Firm in landlocked Bavaria revives funding of new ships

Washington

WITH the shipping world rattled by its biggest-ever bankruptcy and major players seeking safety through mergers, a family-run company from landlocked Bavaria is braving the turbulence by financing fresh vessels.

With two new ships, MST Mineralien Schiffahrt Spedition & Transport is reviving a German funding model that the global recession came close to killing off, tapping private investors for the bulk of the money with most banks reluctant to lend.

The secret for MST, located in a hamlet more than 600km from Germany's biggest port city of Hamburg, is to bet on a niche, such as a long-term contract to transport clay, rather than rely purely on worldwide trade growth.

That approach is key in an industry that's burned billions of euros in investor money as would-be shipping barons poured funds into new merchant vessels. Those gambits foundered as freight and charter rates tumbled due …