Lending by the world’s top 40 shipping banks suffered its steepest drop since Athens-based analysis company Petrofin Research started gauging the industry 12 years ago.
The banks’ shipping portfolios shrunk by 13% last year to nearly $301bn, Petrofin said in its latest annual survey published on Wednesday. The reading has dropped from $455bn at the end of 2011 to its lowest level since 2007, when Petrofin’s data series began.
