Everyone is looking for areas of relative comfort in a harsh shipping market, according to top shipbroker Richard Fulford-Smith of RS Platou.
Fulford-Smith says shipping is currently “blighted” by trade levels being down at a time when there has been massive growth in the bulk shipping market, with the particular problems facing the Greek economy adding to the gloom.
But Fulford-Smith says Greek owners have a social conscience in the face of austerity measures and are responding “rather well” to the calls for them to contribute.
The Greeks like other owners were caught by the “herd instinct” that led to lots of investment flowing into the dry bulk sector.
"It has been a very difficult time for them and they are suffering," says Fulford-Smith who has lost count of the number of Posidonias he has attended.
