Faced with a lack of financing avenues at home, and with European banks largely absent, some Middle Eastern shipowners are coming up with alternative financing solutions.

Many of these solutions are being found in Asia.

Dry bulk player Tomini Shipping is one such company that has had success funding its newbuildings through Asian financial channels.

Chief executive Nitin Mehta — a former shipping banker — credits Tomini’s conservative approach to borrowing as one of the reasons it has been able to easily arrange financing in China.