Your Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

A very good morning.

Thank you for inviting me to Marine Money Week Asia.

This is the 25th year of the conference. And it is good to see the turnout growing year after year.

Many of you have travelled to Singapore to be here. A warm welcome to all of you.

The Age of Abundance

1       For much of the past decade, ship finance was a story of scarcity.

2       After the global financial crisis, many traditional shipping banks reduced their exposure or left the market.

3       The industry adapted. New sources of financing emerged — from leasing and bonds to private equity.

4       Today, the picture looks very different. Capital has returned to shipping. Alternative lenders have grown. Leasing has expanded. Private credit and institutional investors have become more active.

5       So today, we have something the industry did not have in abundance a decade ago:

6       More capital. More products. More structures. These are good developments. But more does not always make things easier. Sometimes, it makes things harder. And that creates three paradoxes:

              a) More capital, but not necessarily better access.

              b) More products, but not necessarily easier choices.

              c) More structures, but not necessarily greater clarity.

7       Let me take each in turn.

Paradox of Capital

8       First, the paradox of capital. 

9       More capital, but not necessarily better access. There is more capital looking for maritime opportunities today. But it does not flow evenly.

10       Every pool of capital has its own mandate, risk appetite and return expectations.

11       An established owner with predictable cash flows may have many financing options. A smaller owner with older vessels may have far fewer. So might a company piloting an unproven technology. This creates an uneven market.

12       Familiar risks attract capital. Less familiar risks still face financing gaps.
And this matters.

13       Many of the investments shipping needs over the next decade will take us into less familiar territory.

14       New fuels. New propulsion systems. Autonomy. Digital technologies. The risks are harder to assess. The track records are shorter. And the financing is harder to put together.

15       So the question is no longer simply: "Do we have enough capital?" It is: "Do we have the right capital for the right opportunities?"

Paradox of Products

16       Second, the paradox of products. More products, but not necessarily easier choices.

17       There was a time when the challenge for a shipowner was simply finding someone willing to finance the vessel.

18       Today, the menu is much longer. Bank debt. Leasing. Bonds. Private credit. Equity. Or some combination of them. That is a good thing.

19       But a longer menu does not make the decision easier. Each product comes with different costs, maturities, security requirements and risk appetites.

20       The lowest headline interest rate may not mean the lowest overall cost. The most flexible product may not be the right one.

21       So the question is increasingly not: "Can I get financing?" It is: "Which financing is right for my business?"

22       Getting the match right matters more than ever.

23       The right capital for the right asset. The right investor for the right business. The right structure for the right stage of growth.

Paradox of Structures

24       Third, the paradox of structures. More structures, but not necessarily greater clarity.

25       Financing structures have become more varied. And more complex. That can be useful. Different structures can allocate risk differently and bring new pools of capital into a transaction.

26       But complexity does not make risk disappear. Sometimes, it makes the risk harder to see.

27       The assets themselves are also becoming harder to assess.

28       Take an alternative-fuel vessel. A financier is no longer looking only at the ship, its charter and its cash flow.

29       There are other questions. "Will the fuel be available?" "Will the infrastructure be ready?" "How will regulation evolve?" "Will the technology perform as expected?" "What happens to the vessel's residual value?" That raises the premium on expertise.

30       We need people who understand the financing structure — but also the maritime business behind it.

31       People who can connect shipping and finance. Shipping and technology. Shipping and sustainability.

32       And people who still ask the basic questions: "What is the underlying asset?" "Where does the cash flow come from?" "Who ultimately bears the risk?"

32       Because complexity is not clarity. And a sophisticated structure is no substitute for understanding the risk.

What This Means for Singapore

33       So what does this mean for Singapore?

34       I think these three paradoxes point to three things we need to do. Broaden. Connect. Deepen.

35       That is how we intend to make capital work better for Maritime Singapore.

Broaden

36       First, broaden.

37       If access is uneven, we need a broader range of capital — so different companies, technologies and assets can find financing that fits their needs.

38       Banks will remain central to ship finance. But banks cannot — and should not — finance every asset, company or technology.

39       So Singapore wants to remain a strong centre for traditional ship finance, while broadening the capital available.

40       Our Maritime Sector Incentive – Maritime Leasing scheme supports companies using Singapore as a base for ship and container financing.

41       Through the Maritime Cluster Fund – Business Development, we also support companies setting up new maritime operations or expanding into new business lines here. But we also need new financing models for new risks.

42       One example is the Fund for Energy Efficiency Technologies, or FEET, developed by the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation and its partners.

43       FEET blends catalytic and commercial capital with debt to finance energy-efficiency retrofits.

44       The idea is simple. Different risks need different capital. And sometimes, bringing different forms of capital together can unlock investments that traditional financing alone cannot.

45       So the objective is not simply more capital. It is the right capital for the right risk.

Connect

46       Second, connect.

47       If more products make matching harder, we need to connect the right capital with the right opportunities.

48       Singapore has a substantial asset-management sector and a growing family-office community. The opportunity is to connect more of that capital with maritime.

49       Many investors know shipping. But they may be less familiar with the wider range of maritime businesses, technologies and infrastructure they can invest in.

50       We want to bridge that gap. Bring credible maritime opportunities to investors with the right risk appetite and investment horizon.

51       Singapore is well placed to do this. We already bring together shipowners, banks, investors, insurers, lawyers, brokers and technology companies in one place.

52       Platforms such as Singapore Maritime Week and Marine Money bring these communities together.

52       MPA also organises roundtables, networking sessions and business-matching activities throughout the year.

53       We are doing the same for emerging maritime businesses.

54       Through PIER71, for example, we connect MarineTech start-ups with investors and venture capital, helping promising companies find the capital and partners they need to scale.

55       Sometimes, the problem is not a lack of capital. The capital and the opportunity simply have not found each other. Our role is to help make that connection.

Deepen

56       Third, deepen.

57       As structures become more complex, expertise matters more. We need people who understand finance. But they must also understand what sits behind the financing — the asset, the technology, the regulation and the economics of shipping.

58       Through the Maritime Cluster Fund, we support companies in training their workforce and building new capabilities. This includes funding upskilling programmes, as well as industry and overseas attachments.

59       We also want to bring expertise into maritime from finance, technology, data, law and other professional fields.

60       The goal is not simply more people. It is people who can see across disciplines. Who understand the trade-offs. And who can make sound decisions.

Conclusion

61       Ladies and gentlemen, for much of the past decade, ship finance was a story of scarcity. Today, increasingly, it is a story of abundance.

62       More capital. More products. More structures. But abundance brings its own challenges.

63       More capital, but not necessarily better access.

64       More products, but not necessarily easier choices.

65       More structures, but not necessarily greater clarity.

66       So our response should not simply be to pursue more. It should be to make what we have work better.

67       Broaden the range of capital. Connect capital with opportunity. Deepen the expertise to make good decisions.

68       Because the opportunity before us is not simply to bring more capital into maritime. It is to make capital work better for maritime.

69       And if we get that right, finance will do more than fund the next ship. It will help shape the next generation of shipping.

Thank you.