China Import & Export Bank, the nation's largest state-owned ship finance bank, plans to start financing ports said Li Li, president of CEXIM, who was speaking today at BIMCO's Shanghai office opening. The bank will also start to finance ports in other countries and ramp up lending to logistics players, according to Li. Li said that CEXIM will also venture into lending to marine equipment makers. In particular, the lender is looking for opportunities with high-tech parties manufacturing offshore marine equipment, which dovetails with Beijing's push for China's energy self-sufficiency.

“We have suffered ... But we are still the market leader,” said Li. CEXIM has seen a slew of bad debt. The Shanghai branch made RMB12.56bn of loans to the shipping industry last year, 3.5% of which have gone bad. But Li believes that government plans to bolster domestic demand will benefit the bank.

Source from Sino Ship News