Reportage No.13: Japanese Shipowners　第13回ルポルタージュ・日本船主

What lies behind Japanese regional banks’ move to finance “vintage vessels”

「日本の地方銀行、『ビンテージ船にも融資』の思惑とは」

In early March, at a coffee shop in the Yurakucho area of Tokyo, a Japanese shipowner who had travelled to the capital from a regional city in western Japan began to speak.

Financing for “vintage vessels”

“Recently, I feel that the policy of Japanese regional banks regarding ship finance has begun to change slightly. Not only are they responding to the shortening of charter periods with operators, but financing cases for the purchase of secondhand vessels with a ship age of around 10 years, and in some cases more than 10 years old, have also become eligible for lending.”

Regional banks engaged in ship finance have traditionally included Iyo Bank, Hiroshima Bank, Yamaguchi Financial Group, Ehime Bank, Fukuoka Bank and Hyakujushi Bank. In recent years, however, banks such as Chugoku Bank, Sanin Godo Bank, Tokushima Taisho Bank and Kagawa Bank have also been actively working on ship finance.

What is happening in Japanese ship finance, where the polarisation between large shipowners and small shipowners is becoming increasingly clear?

The Japanese shipowner quoted at the beginning continued.

“Because newbuilding prices are too high, it is difficult even for regional banks to provide financing to ocean-going shipowners that own only around five vessels. Therefore, loans are now being extended to secondhand ships with a ship age of around 10 years, referred to as ‘vintage vessels’, calculated backwards from their scrap value.”

(The continuation can be read in the main text written in both English and Japanese. The Japanese article is published following the English article.)

(Reportage: Japanese Shipowners reporting team, published every Friday.)

第13回ルポルタージュ・日本船主

「日本の地方銀行、『ビンテージ船にも融資』の思惑とは」

　3月上旬、有楽町界隈の喫茶店。西日本の地方都市から上京してきた日本船主が口を開いた。

■「ビンテージ船」に融資

　「最近、日本の地方銀行の船舶融資の方針が少し変わってきたように感じる。オペレーターとの用船期間の短期化に応じるだけでなく、船齢10年、中には船齢が10年以上の中古船を購入する際の融資案件も融資対象になってきているのだ」

　船舶融資を手掛ける地方銀行といえば、伊予銀行を筆頭に広島銀行、山口フィナンシャルグループ、愛媛銀行、福岡銀行、百十四銀行などが伝統行であり、最近では中国銀行、山陰合同銀行、徳島大正銀行、香川銀行などが船舶融資に積極的に取り組む。

　大手船主と小規模船主の二極化が鮮明になりつつある日本の船舶融資で何が起きているのか。

　冒頭の日本船主が続ける。

　「新造船価格が高すぎるため、地方銀行としても保有隻数が5隻程度の外航船主に融資するのは難しい。そこで、スクラップ価値から逆算した『ビンテージ船』と呼ばれる船齢10年前後の中古船への融資が対象になっているのだ」

（続きは英語と日本語で書かれた本文でお読みください。日本語の記事は英文記事に続いて掲載されています）

（ルポルタージュ・日本船主取材班、毎週金曜日配信）