Italy’s shipowners have tied up a ground-breaking accord with China that could open up an important new source of funding and help make the Export-Import Bank of China into a force on the European ship-financing scene.

Nicola Coccia, president of shipowners association Confitarma, said the agreement under which China Exim Bank would help finance Italian shipbuilding in Chinese yards was one of separate but related accords.

He said, ‘The first is a political/economic agreement, the necessary precursor to any significant involvement in China, with the Shanghai Federation of Industrial Economics, which oversees the Shanghai economic zone.

A second agreement, between Shanghai Maritime University, Confitarma and classification society Rina, concerns technical cooperation.

The Chinese institution will focus on areas of study valuable to the two Italian organisations, and the latter will train and use technicians from the university in certain shipbuilding disciplines rather than transferring expertise from Europe.

Nicola Coccia noted that of 240 ships ordered or now under construction for Confitarma members, 70 were at Chinese yards for a total investment of around $3.5bn.

Vessel orders aside, a number of Italian shipping- and transport-related businesses have growing interests in China, including Rina, which has close ties with the Chinese shipping registry.

For Italy’s shipowners, the China connection is a neat response to the increasing constriction of the credit environment.

In our illustration is Nicola Coccia and Zhu Wengen, president of the Shanghai branch of Exim.
Source: Lloyds List