Greece is the dominant force of capital in shipping today at a time when new cash is scarce, a leading executive says.
Pankaj Khanna of Pioneer Marine says while private equity is not running for the doors, fresh investment in shipping is only on the fringes.
"In general, you find where the money coming from is Greece. In the second hand market people are picking up ships," he said at the Capital Link Forum at Posidonia.
He said this was evident in the prominence of Greek buyers in the market and the sight of investors who had previously exited returning to the business.
"On the banking side, there is no money available which is good for shipping," he said.
"People are not going out and running to the shipyard. The second hand market assets are cheap enough. Everybody is focused on that."
Stamatis Tsantanis of Seanergy Maritime disagreed with the idea that new money was bad for shipping.
"People can throw rocks at investors in the States," he said. "Let's all be reminded that cyclicality in shipping has existed forever."
"People can go crazy any time, it's not whether there are capital markets or not."
The comments came during a dry bulk panel discussion, in which it was widely suggested the worst has passed for the dry cargo market.
Hamish Norton, president of Star Bulk, said: "I think of the dry bulk market as like Wile E. Coyote. It's either strapped to a rocket or it's off the cliff. In either case you discover you are strapped to a rocket or off a cliff before you can react, so you just have to be prepared for either alternative."
