{"text":[[{"start":8.36,"text":"The shipping sector is attracting long-term financial investors as the Middle East crisis boosts potential returns on vessel prices and freight rates."}],[{"start":17.32,"text":"Asset managers with shipping portfolios, which include vessels or equity investments, have pointed to increased interest from pension funds and large institutional investors who are looking for exposure to hard assets."}],[{"start":30.04,"text":"“The big capital allocators that run all of these multiple mutual funds with sizes that are in the billions are [saying] ‘I like shipping and so I’m buying shipping [now]’,” said Nicolas Tirogalas, chief executive of Tufton Investment Management, a London-based asset manager focused on the sector."}],[{"start":46.56,"text":"Investors buy shares in Tufton, which in turn invests in ships. “All the meetings that we have had in the last two quarters have been with investors where I’ve left those meetings and they have all increased their stakes in the company,” he said."}],[{"start":59.76,"text":"Andreas Povlsen, head of maritime at private credit investor Hayfin, said investors, especially those looking to hold assets in the long term, had realised the breadth of “cash-generative real assets” that are linked to world trade."}],[{"start":72.96,"text":"“We see investors who have been in other hard assets like aviation or real estate cycling out of those asset classes, maybe because there are too many people at the party,” he added."}],[{"start":84.36,"text":"Hayfin is currently raising its next maritime fund with the aim of doubling the value of capital commitments compared to its previous $620mn maritime fund, according to people with knowledge of the process."}],[{"start":96.44,"text":"Several asset managers noted that another driver was investors looking for ‘HALO’ — ‘hard asset, low obsolescence’ — investments that were detached from stock market excitement surrounding AI."}],[{"start":106.88,"text":"Although shipowners had been expecting to enter a down cycle this year due to a high number of new ships entering the market, the near closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the disruption in the Red Sea have forced vessels to take longer routes, keeping more of the fleet tied up at any one time."}],[{"start":122.52,"text":"Asset prices and freight rates across the different shipping sectors have remained at or near historic highs as a result, a trend that shipbrokers and investment managers said they expected to last as the conflict in the Middle East drags on."}],[{"start":133.12,"text":"Breakwave Tanker Shipping, the only exchange traded fund focusing on tanker rates which have hit record highs thanks to demand for ships willing to carry cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz, has seen its value jump more than 23-fold this year."}],[{"start":146.74,"text":"Equity investments in listed shipping companies by US and UK investment firms were at similar levels to last year, when they reached a 20-year high, according to figures from maritime data company Veson Nautical."}],[{"start":158.08,"text":"“Institutional money has come in because the market is at a peak,” said another asset manager involved in the sector, who warned that there could be “more downside than upside” despite predictions from shipowners that the need to rebuild the Middle East and replenish oil inventories will keep rates elevated for some time after the conflict is resolved."}],[{"start":177.84,"text":"Tirogalas said that he believed with “high certainty, we’re not even close to the top of the market” for dry-bulk cargo ships that are used to transport commodities such as iron ore and grain."}],[{"start":188.8,"text":"Asset prices for all types of ships, particularly tankers, have also been at unexpected highs — nearing records last set in 2008."}],[{"start":196.92,"text":"“We did not know if we’d see that in the market again,” said Olivia Watkins, associate director at Veson. Part of it was driven by extremely high earnings for chartered ships, she added."}],[{"start":207.24,"text":"“As the market is so high there’s always the question, why are owners buying, but as they are making so much money on the charter market you can pay your ship back in a few years,” Watkins said."}],[{"start":218.24,"text":"Asset managers have been among those actively buying ships."}],[{"start":221.56,"text":"Hayfin has put in orders for seven oil product tankers and two liquefied natural gas carriers this year, while JPMorgan Asset Management has ordered at least eight new oil supertankers costing around $1.26bn with options for a further two vessels, according to Argus, the pricing agency."}],[{"start":243.68,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1788160457_1087.mp3"}