Zacharias G. Bragoudakis

Investment Strategy and Greek Shipping Earnings: Exploring the Pre & Post 'Ordering-Frenzy' Period

The influx of shipping receipts from the worlds leading fleet has been critical for the development of the modern Greek economy. Following the fateful September of 2008, the range and speed of the shift in direction of the freight rates, combined with the general economic and credit climate, have had a significant impact on Greek receipts from shipping. The paper explores the short-term - vis-a-vis - the long-term response of shipping-related flows in the Greek balance of payments on the basis of monthly data. It also evaluates the role of the change in Greek ship-owners’ investment strategies from 2006 onwards. To this end, the authors model the impact of freight market fluctuations through a Greek shipping freight rate index that they have calculated, loans outstanding and the value of ships on inflows and outflows from shipping. The findings provide evidence in favour of a change in the investment behaviour of the Greek shipping companies. Inflows and outflows tend to be dictated partly by the cash-flow position of the companies involved in the S&P market, as indicated by the positive relationship with freight rates