Although the shipping industry is currently in a downturn, financial institutions are still full of confidence in the shipping industry. Chen Siqing, President of the Bank of China, said: "The more difficult the time is, the more we must strengthen our confidence. Winter is coming, and spring is not far away!" Financial institutions look at an industry not only for its cyclical fluctuations, but also for its long-term development. With the process of China's economic globalization

China's shipping industry is full of opportunities

Chen Siqing said that China's shipping industry is currently facing three major opportunities.

The first is new market opportunities based on the “One Belt, One Road” strategy. In the first nine months, the newly signed foreign contracted projects by Chinese enterprises in the countries along the “Belt and Road” amounted to US$74.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26.1%, accounting for 50.4% of China’s newly signed foreign contracted contracts during the same period. The construction of the "Belt and Road" will further expand the scope of global allocation of production capacity and create huge demand for seaborne trade.

The second is the opportunity for the stable development of China's foreign trade and economic investment. It is expected that by 2020, China's total foreign trade will exceed 5 trillion US dollars, and foreign direct investment will exceed 200 billion US dollars, doubling from 2014. Shipping is an important carrier of global trade and investment. The continuous integration of China's economy into the global industrial chain will surely benefit the development of the global shipping industry, especially injecting strong impetus into the globalization of Chinese shipping companies.

The third is the opportunity for mergers and acquisitions in the adjustment of the shipping industry. At present, the global shipping industry is in a period of adjustment, and some shipping companies have difficulties in their operations. In order to form a scale effect, achieve intensive development and low-cost operation, there is a need for structural adjustment within the shipping industry. This has brought opportunities for Chinese shipping companies to rapidly expand overseas ports, routes and businesses through mergers and acquisitions.

Financial institutions: natural supporters of the shipping industry

Both the financial industry and the shipping industry are related to "financing". When shipping is prosperous, trade is prosperous; when trade is prosperous, the economy is prosperous; when the economy is prosperous, finance is prosperous. Financial institutions have always supported the development of shipping enterprises with financial strength, and supported shipping enterprises to achieve stable financial development.

From the experience of this round of shipping industry adjustment, in a long-term volatile market, lower operating costs and abundant cash flow are the keys for shipping companies to remain competitive. Strengthening cooperation between financial institutions and the shipping industry, scientifically selecting funding sources, rationally planning the financing structure, and establishing an efficient and stable financial system are conducive to the stable and long-term development of the shipping industry and continuously expand the development space. According to incomplete statistics, global commercial banks provided more than 350 billion US dollars of credit support to the shipping industry last year. This data has remained stable in recent years, providing a reliable source of funding for the shipping industry. At the same time, the rapid development of bonds, leasing, funds and other channels has also provided diversified financing options for the shipping industry.

Support the shipping industry to integrate with the international capital market. How to achieve global efficient operation is the primary problem faced by the globalization of the shipping industry. Among them, establishing a smooth financing channel and realizing the real-time allocation of global funds is the key. Financial institutions make full use of both domestic and foreign markets and resources to help Chinese shipping companies participate in the international capital market, reduce financing costs and enhance their competitiveness in the global market. According to incomplete statistics, in recent years, with the strong support of financial institutions, China's shipping industry has accelerated the pace of issuing bonds in the international capital market, accumulating more than 8 billion US dollars in financing. The strength of China's shipping industry is being recognized by foreign investors.

Support the shipping industry to better enhance the value of the industrial chain. Strengthening the integration of resources such as shipbuilding, shipping, terminals, and logistics is the only way for the future development of the shipping industry. By leveraging the advantages of globalization and diversified platforms, financial institutions support China's shipping industry to integrate global advantageous resources, improve the overall income level, and maximize the value of the industrial chain. Taking the acquisition of terminals as an example, up to now, the total investment of Chinese shipping companies in Greece, Turkey, Djibouti and other countries has exceeded 5 billion US dollars. These terminals not only become models of Chinese investment locally, but also provide support for the construction of overseas routes, effectively improving the operating efficiency of shipping companies. M&A investment is inseparable from the strong support of Chinese financial institutions.

Chinese banks continue to support shipping industry

  Bank of China

For a long time, Bank of China and China's shipping industry have been side by side, coexisting and prosperous. As early as the 1960s, the State Council decided to use the foreign exchange loan from the Bank of China to purchase ocean-going shipping ships and establish China's first ocean-going fleet. Before the reform and opening up, the Bank of China issued a total of more than 900 million US dollars in ship purchase loans, supporting the purchase and ordering of 232 ocean-going ships of 4.28 million tons, making a significant contribution to the development of China's ocean shipping industry. For half a century, Bank of China has accompanied the shipping industry through several ups and downs, and has never lost confidence in the shipping industry. At present, the credit balance of Bank of China in the shipping industry is about 17 billion US dollars, maintaining the top ten in the world and the first in China.

Bank of China will continue to support the transformation and upgrading of the shipping industry.

The first is to build a global capital management system for the shipping industry, enter the international capital market and explore the value of the industrial chain based on the service network all over the world, with capital liquidity management as the core, and global cash management and RMB business as important starting points. Full support.

The second is to build the “Belt and Road” financial artery construction, with mergers and acquisitions financing, ship financing, syndicated loans and other products as links to fully meet the needs of shipping market expansion, international cooperation and route layout, and promote the globalization of the shipping industry.

The third is to give full play to Bank of China's advantages in diversified financial services in the fields of investment banking, securities, funds, insurance, and leasing, accelerate the innovation of multi-level shipping capital service models, reduce shipping costs by combining the application of financial derivatives, and provide stable operations for the shipping industry. Better capital structures and hedging tools.

Export-Import Bank of China

Since 2013, the Export-Import Bank of China has provided nearly 120 billion yuan of credit support to Chinese shipbuilding enterprises, issued nearly 7 billion US dollars of ship advance payment guarantees, and provided nearly 14 billion US dollars of credit support for domestic and foreign shipowners to purchase ships in China. It is worth mentioning that since the Export-Import Bank of China launched the ship buyer's credit business, it has provided financing services for more than 100 ship owners in more than 30 countries on six continents except Antarctica to order ships in Chinese shipbuilding enterprises, and has cooperated with global companies. More than 30 major ship financing banks have established good cooperative relations. In the past few years, when most traditional ship financing banks tightened their ship credit business, China Exim Bank's ship assets scale continued to rise, becoming one of the few financial institutions "going against the current" in the global ship financing market. Adding a touch of light to the sluggish and gloomy ship market. According to the "Marine Finance Magazine", as of the end of last year, the scale of China's Export-Import Bank's shipping assets ranked sixth in the world with US$16 billion.

In the next step, the Export-Import Bank of China will continue to adhere to the selection criteria for customers and ensure that funds are placed where they should be placed. In terms of shipbuilding enterprises, the scope of financing support will continue to be concentrated on key backbone shipbuilding enterprises to help the shipbuilding industry to be eliminated. Although the shipping industry is currently in a downturn, financial institutions are still full of confidence in the shipping industry. After the production capacity, the industry concentration has been increased. The shipbuilding enterprises supported by the bank have been reduced from 110 three years ago to the current 60, and 80% of the loan amount is concentrated in more than 20 key key shipbuilding enterprises. It will be further improved; in terms of shipowners, it will choose to establish cooperation with shipowners with good reputation, long operating history, transparent and stable financial management, and strong anti-risk ability to meet their needs for fleet renewal, and does not support speculative shipowners; ship type , and will continue to increase financing support for LNG ships, large container ships and other green, energy-saving and environmentally friendly ships produced by key shipbuilding enterprises.

Actively implement the "Belt and Road" strategy

At present, the "One Belt, One Road" strategy is a hot topic of global concern. Chinese-funded financial institutions represented by the Export-Import Bank of China have done a lot of work in the implementation of the "One Belt, One Road" strategy in recent years.

As a long-term policy bank committed to promoting foreign economic and trade cooperation, since 2014, the Export-Import Bank of China has signed more than 1,000 projects in countries along the “Belt and Road”, with a contract value exceeding 640 billion yuan and loans of more than 490 billion yuan. Support business contracts worth more than $390 billion. As of the end of September, China Exim Bank's "Belt and Road" loan balance exceeded 580 billion yuan, and the projects are distributed in 50 countries along the route, especially in the key areas of facility connectivity, economic and trade cooperation, industrial investment, and energy and resource cooperation.

Most of the countries along the "Belt and Road" are emerging and developing countries, covering a total population of about 4.4 billion and an economic aggregate of about 21 trillion US dollars. The huge economic scale and dynamic economic development trend will generate huge demand for freight, warehousing and logistics, international transit and port construction, which will inevitably increase the production capacity cooperation between China and the countries along the "Belt and Road", in order to promote Chinese enterprises to "go global". "Creating rare business opportunities also puts forward higher requirements for the shipping industry and financial institutions. In the future, the Export-Import Bank of China will unswervingly continue to provide more comprehensive, high-quality and efficient financial services for the "Belt and Road" construction.