Greeks buy German box ships as Germany bails out Greece

GREEK shipowners are said to be using the financial crisis facing German shipowners to boost their presence in the container shipping industry.

They have recently been buying containerships either directly from struggling owners or from shipyards, and most of the deals are said to involve German owners, reports Ebeling Heffernan`s Live Trading News, Hong Kong.


The Greeks own about 17 per cent of the world`s ships, but only about five per cent of the containerships.


"Shipowners in Germany, the key country behind the European Union`s bail-out of Greece, are suffering from exposure to the crisis-hit container shipping sector. Germany`s public has also become reluctant to invest in KG funds, the traditional means of raising funds for ship purchases, after many have run into financial trouble," the report said.


Michael Bodouroglou, Paragon Shipping`s chairman, was quoted as saying: "Financially healthy companies would rather hold on to the assets than sell at historically low values. It is well known that especially the German market has financial problems because they bought at historically high values."