Whilst the current market volume is still very low, both shipowners and lenders see great potential for digital finance market places in shipping. This is the result of the first »Maritime Snapshot« presented by the Hamburg-based survey company MRP
Some weeks ago, MRP surveyed around 30 small and medium-sized European shipping companies and more than 30 international maritime[ds_preview] financial institutions. The participants, all of whom were company executives, were approached personally, but the answers were anonymised.
»However, the use of online platforms for financing new ships, refinancing or retrofits is still very low,« says MRP managing partner Ingmar Loges: »Only about 12 % of shipowners and lenders each stated that they currently use digital financing instruments.« The direct approach has clear priorty with 100 % of shipowners and 96.8 % of lenders. In the future, however, more than half of the respondents, both shipowners and lenders, can imagine using online platforms.
62.5 % of the shipowners and as many as 77.4 % of the lenders assume that significantly more transactions will be processed via such platforms in the future. »Among the reasons that currently speak against the use of digital platforms, both sides agree on the possible loss of personal contacts,« adds MRP managing partner Behrend Oldenburg.
There are, however, greater differences in the assessment of other arguments: While exactly half of the shipowners surveyed consider digital business to be too complex, only a third of the lenders see this specific risk.
The situation is similar with confidentiality issues, which are viewed much more critically by shipowners (50 %) than by lenders (26.7 %). Likewise, shipowners rate the possible lack of trust (33.3 %) significantly higher than lenders (6.7 %).
In terms of possible added value services, both sides see cash flow modelling as very important, giving an arithmetic mean value of around 4 (rating from 1, not at all important, to 6, very important).
»We got the impression that lenders, unlike shipowners, see digital finance market places as a tool that can significantly simplify their processes«, Loges concludes.
