Cyprus Influencing Greek Purchases
Piraeus-based Lion Shipbrokers is observing an increase in secondhand purchases it attributes to an interest in Greek shipowners to invest their assets in vessels in light of bank uncertainty in Cyprus.
The report reads:
Dry bulk second hand market remains very active as asset values have certainly bounced from thebottom and are now firming. This is mainly due to Greek demand (after the Cyprus bailout incident) combined with lack of young (built 2000 onwards) quality tonnage in the market (i.e. Japanese & South Korean built). Remind you that a couple of weeks ago, European Union imposed a haircut of 40% to 80% to the two Cypriot main banks of all deposits in excess of €100,000, scaring off many of the cash rich Greek ship-owners, who started investing in ships, avoiding the risk of a similar scenario happening in their country.
As a result of these purchases, flags popular with Greek owners could see an uptick in registration over the next couple of months.
