Going Public

The expression going public does not only refer to companies. In this instance, our neighbor and good friend Oivind Lorentzen seeking greater challenges beyond those offered by his private interests in shipping has accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer of SEACOR Holdings Inc., where he will have the enviable position of working hand-in-hand with Executive Chairman Charles Fabrikant, his predecessor in that role and the founder of the company.

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Investing and Investment Banking

The market is depressed. The people are not.
The debt markets exist. But you are looking at a lot less for a short term costing a lot more. A lot of the banks will be properly back into the game by 2010. It will help to have companies based in ship finance exporting countries.

The capital markets exist. The bond market is open at very reasonable rates. The equity markets are open for existing issuers but valuations are poor.

We may have a rebound this year thanks to stimulus plans and fiscal loosening, but the underlying damage is done. Banks will eventually HAVE to account for their losses. The write-downs have to come from somewhere and government debt is hardly the answer. Unless they wait years with the balance sheets impaired.
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Bigger, Better… Forever

We don’t know how they do it, but this year’s CMA’s shipping and trade conference and exposition, “Shipping 2009”, was not only the biggest ever but showed the resilience of the industry. The ladies of CMA, who run the conference like a well-oiled machine, tell us attendance exceeded 2,200. If sports arenas are named after corporations, it seems only fair that the Hilton be renamed the CMA during this annual event.

The success of this event is attributable to the fact that it reaches out to the whole industry and covers all of the issues it faces. This year the shipping markets and piracy got equal billing. While, naturally, our main focus is on the shipping markets, Professor Christopher Coker’s presentation on piracy highlighted its significance, permanence and far-reaching risks, if it becomes linked with terrorism. For us, the rude awakening was his statement that unlike the 19th century when piracy was eradicated, today the best we can hope for is to “manage risks.” And, if we are unsuccessful even in that, we will have far more serious issues. The speech is a must read for its realistic but unfortunately bleak perspective of our future.

From the extensive three day program our chairman puts together with the assistance of the CMA, we have selected the following as perhaps being of the greatest interest to our readers.

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CMA’s Irish Feis

CMA’s 2008 Shipping Conference got off to a brilliant start on St. Patrick’s Day. It was not only bigger, 2,000 attendees by latest count, but if possible was one of the best ever in terms of content. Understanding that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, the organ­izers brought Ireland to the conference much to the chagrin of the local pubs, Tiernan’s and Tigin. Bob Kunkel of Seacoast Electronics was serving Guinness and Harps at the Seacoast booth and then brought in the pipes and drums from the Rockland County Emerald Society for entertainment.

It is grossly unfair to gloss over the program, which is dedicated to every part of shipping, but it would also be impossible to describe it all. So instead we will exhibit our prejudice and focus on the market sessions.

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