Valuation mismatch and shipping q indicator for shipping asset management

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to develop an adaptation of the Tobin Q investment model for the shipping asset management in order to monitor valuation mismatch and bubble pricing of shipping assets. In this circumstance, the market prices of various shipping assets (e.g., Capesize or Panamax dry bulk carriers in different age profiles) are compared to the measured long-term asset value with second-hand ship prices. The mark-to-market prices of shipping assets are led by current market trends and freight rates, while the long-term asset value is estimated by using past data under certain assumptions (mean reversion, trend reversion). The discrepancy between market prices and the long-term nominal value of a shipping asset reflects any mispricing, which in turn sheds light on investment timing and market entry-exit decision.     

市场随机波动下干散货和原油船投资决策研究

运用实物期权博弈理论,建立了航运市场随机波动情况下干散货和原油船舶的投资决策模型,得出了承运人之间同质竞争和差异化竞争时船舶的最优投资准则.理论研究和实证分析均表明:承运人的收益和投资船舶的边际收益随航运市场规模和风险的增加而增加;最优的船舶投资量与航运市场的规模和风险正相关;随着航运市场竞争的加剧,承运人的收益和最优的船舶投资量呈下降趋势;随着承运人之间服务差异化程度的增加,承运人的收益和最优的船舶投资量呈上升趋势.     

An analysis of freight rate volatility in dry bulk shipping markets

The world bulk shipping market has been in a peak period since 2003, and this has lasted an incredibly long time considering that the markets are much more complex than before. This paper investigates the characteristics of volatility in dry bulk freight rates of different vessel sizes (capesize, panamax and handysize). The daily returns of freight rate indices of three different types of bulk vessel in the sample period have been examined. The sample period ran from 1 March 1999 to 23 December 2005, and applying the GARCH (generalized auto regressive conditional heteroskedasticity) model showed that the shocks will not decrease but have the tendency to strengthen for all the daily return series. Further, external shocks on the market have a different magnitude of influence on volatility in different types of vessels due to their distinct flexibility. To examine the asymmetric characters of daily return volatility in different bulk shipping sectors and different market conditions, the sample was divided into two periods: one is from 1 March 1999 to 31 December 2002, the other is from 1 January 2003 to 23 December 2005; the EGARCH (exponential generalized auto regressive conditional heteroskedasticity) model was then applied to investigate the asymmetric impact between past innovations and current volatility. The results show that the asymmetric characters are distinct for different vessel size segments and different market conditions. The reasons for the results are discussed and it is considered that the main reasons may be the different flexibility and different commodity transport on different routes. The results from this investigation will be useful for the operators and investors in the dry bulk shipping market to increase profitability and reduce investment risk.     

The empirical evidence of the leverage effect on volatility in international bulk shipping market

This paper mainly applies Nelson's EGARCH (Exponentially Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity) model to investigate the leverage effect in the presence of the international bulk shipping market. The daily return of three different types of bulk vessel in the sampling period selected has been examined. We find that all return series show a significantly negative relation in terms of return and volatility and the leverage effect on volatility is more significant in market downward movement than in market upward movement under the same magnitude of innovation, in addition, the larger vessels have much more leverage effect than smaller vessels contemporaneously. Therefore, it seems to be an inherent nature in the international bulk shipping market that the phenomenon of an asymmetric impact between past innovations and current volatility. This result from the investigation may provide investors with an insight into real characteristics of price return volatility, it is useful for investors to pre-arrange their portfolios of assets, risk management e.g. enabling them to achieve a reduction of investment risk and an increase of operation performance in profit gain.     

Asset allocation and value at risk in shipping equity portfolios

This study employs alternative dynamic volatility models to investigate the risk and return characteristics of a carefully selected sample of shipping stocks, in order to enhance asset allocation opportunities. As private and institutional investors are in search of alternative style investments, the assessment of stock volatility is a critical issue for efficient asset allocation, dynamic portfolio management and firm valuation. The empirical findings indicate a highly volatile profile for shipping stock returns, in line with respective (tanker and dry bulk) earnings. Sectoral and company fundamentals may affect shipping stock volatility, which is found to be sensitive to asymmetric shocks. The results support high portfolio returns for shipping stock portfolios that appear to be superior to standard market benchmarks but are associated with higher risk level.     

实物期权在航运企业船舶投资决策中的应用

航运业是一个具有特殊风险的行业,然而传统的船舶投资决策却总是忽略不确定性对投资价值的影响。将实物期权运用到航运企业船舶投资决策中,运用布莱克-舒尔斯的期权定价公式,得出含有实物期权的投资价值和一般的投资价值,定量地分析了不确定性对投资价值的影响,使船舶投资价值与决策相一致,最终使航运企业获得最大的投资收益。     

Price and volume dynamics in second-hand dry bulk and tanker shipping markets

The relationship between trading volume, prices and return volatility is thoroughly investigated in different second-hand dry bulk and tanker market segments. The objective is to gain fruitful insight on the sale and purchase market dynamics, and the sensitivity of vessel price movements following the arrival of new information signals in the shipping markets. Contemporaneous relationships are identified between returns and volume, particularly in the markets of handysize and panamax bulks as well as of handysize and aframax tankers. Price changes are found to have an impact on trading volume indicating that expectations to higher capital gains induce increases in trading activity. Volume appears to have a negative impact on the volatility of price changes mainly in the dry bulk market; this may be due to thin trading, limited transaction transparency and absence of vessel price quotes. The empirical findings can contribute to a better understanding of shipping markets' microstructure and price volatility dynamics by market participants. This, in turn, can be useful for investors who construct their portfolios of real assets with a view to attain superior capital gains, controlling for the underlying investment risk.     

Price and volume dynamics in second-hand dry bulk and tanker shipping markets

The relationship between trading volume, prices and return volatility is thoroughly investigated in different second-hand dry bulk and tanker market segments. The objective is to gain fruitful insight on the sale and purchase market dynamics, and the sensitivity of vessel price movements following the arrival of new information signals in the shipping markets. Contemporaneous relationships are identified between returns and volume, particularly in the markets of handysize and panamax bulks as well as of handysize and aframax tankers. Price changes are found to have an impact on trading volume indicating that expectations to higher capital gains induce increases in trading activity. Volume appears to have a negative impact on the volatility of price changes mainly in the dry bulk market; this may be due to thin trading, limited transaction transparency and absence of vessel price quotes. The empirical findings can contribute to a better understanding of shipping markets’ microstructure and price volatility dynamics by market participants. This, in turn, can be useful for investors who construct their portfolios of real assets with a view to attain superior capital gains, controlling for the underlying investment risk.     

沿海干散货船的船价影响因素及概率统计分析

由于船舶的投资额很大,所以航运企业在做投资决策之前对船价的影响因素做系统的分析,并对其进行准确的估计,对航运企业来说是至关重要的。本文分析了近几年沿海干散货船舶市场的影响因素,并运用概率统计的方法给出了近期船价的概率分布模型。     

Efficient pricing of ships in the dry bulk sector of the shipping industry

The aim of this paper was to investigate the validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis in conjunction with Rational Expectations in the formation of dry bulk ship prices over the period January 1976-December 1997. Tests for market efficiency include those of orthogonality and unpredictability of excess returns on investments and tests based on the Vector Autoregressive models proposed by Campbell and Shiller. The latter methodology is extended further to a 3-variable Vector Autoregressive model, which is applicable to real assets with limited economic life. Results indicate that prices for newbuilding and second-hand vessels are not determined efficiently in the sense of Fama. Failure of the Efficient Market Hypothesis in the formation of ship prices is explained by the existence of timevarying risk premia, which relate excess returns to investors' perceptions of risk. These are modelled through the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity in mean (GARCH-M) models. The results have important implications for shipping investment strategies, both in the newbuilding and second-hand markets.     

Predictability of the dry bulk shipping market by BIFFEX

When BIFFEX (Baltic International Freight Futures Exchange) came ijnto existence in 1985, many critics were perssimistic that it would have a successful future. In spite of the eight year's surival of BIFFEX, a recent empirical study shows that BIFFEX is not widely used a s a hedging tool ijn the shipping community, unlike the expectations and recommendations of many experts. one reason could be that BIFFEX may not be considered peredictive of the physical market and, therefore, investors might be suspicious of the hedging effect. The objective of this paper is to test this argument by exdamining the predicatability of BIFFEX in the dry bulk shipping market up to six months. Prior to the real situation, the explainable power ranges from 90% in a one-month advance to 23% in a six-month advance.     

The value of options for time charterparty extension: an artificial neural networks (ANN) approach

The most frequently associated options in the physical shipping market are options to extend the charter period on time charters and additional shipment options on contracts of affreightment. The value of freight options, in practice, is estimated mostly by referring to forward curves. An option on freight has different properties from its financial counterparts, and the straightforward adoption of theoretical models does not produce promising results. In this paper, extension options, which have the property of options on futures, were transformed into regular European options before the application of the Black-Scholes model (BSM). The efficient market hypothesis, which justifies the parity of the performance of a long-term charter to that of repetitive short-term charters, worked as the basis for the transformation. The option values determined by the BSM were compared with actual realized values. Additionally, the artificial neural networks (ANN) was employed to derive the option values. This study is meaningful as the first-time application of both the closed-form solution and the ANN to the valuation of physical freight options. The research results can contribute to the quality of chartering decisions. The results could also be used in quantifying credit risk, as extension options tend to be granted to charterers with more creditability.     

国际干散货航运市场回顾与展望

自2003年10月份以来,国际干散货航运市场表现十分强劲,但从2005年的BDI指数走势来看,这种高景气度已有明显的见顶迹象,对于国际干散货航运市场能否持续高涨的行情,说法众多不一。首先对国际干散货航运市场进行回顾,并针对与干散货航运市场关系密切的世界经济以及国际干散货航运市场供需两方面进行分析,最后对2006年国际干散货航运市场的发展加以展望。     

Analyzing ship investment behaviour in liner shipping

This study analyzes capacity expansion and ship choice decisions. Theoretically, we derive the probability of capacity expansion as a function of market and company attributes and characterize the impacts of these factors on expansion decisions. Empirically, we analyze ship investment and ship choice behaviour using binary choice and nested logit models based on ship investment data from major liner shipping companies over the period 1999 to 2009. Most expansion decisions are found to be market-driven, and large companies expand to maintain their market shares. In terms of ship selection, statistical results support the assumption that shipping companies decide on a new order or second-hand purchase before considering the ship size. Also, new orders are preferable to second-hand purchases. For new orders, the preference increases with ship size, and decreases with shipbuilding length and demand growth rate. For all ship types, the preference increases with a high and stable time-charter rate. For second-hand ships, handysize is the most preferable size. The substitution of new orders and second-hand purchases is possible, but not symmetrical.     

A cause of oversupply and failure in the shipping market: measuring herding behavior effects

ABSTRACT

The shipping market is volatile. In general, the shipping market cycle shows four stages, through—recovery—peak—collapse, while a upward trend lasts for 7~8 years and a downward trend for another 7~8 years. So the market’s bubble is not sustainable but always ends in a recessionary trend. The economic cycle is common knowledge and an axiom of the shipping industry, but many ship-owners take no account of it. Previous study stated that ship-owners’ fears, triggered by a violently changeable market, make them mimic the crowd mind or herd mentality, following market sentiment. This study aims to measure the effects of herding behavior (HB), triggered by market sentiment, on the shipping market. We attempt to address two research questions: (1) How does HB arise, and what course does it follow? (2) How many vessels (or how many tons) were purchased under the influence of HB? We estimate that 50.5% (227.8 vessels) of the total vessels or 30.4% (3,670.2 tons) of the total tonnage were purchased under the influence of HB. Looking at international finance, we found that ship investment HB is a very strong factor of the recent shipping market, at least in Korea.     

严冬回暖中的航运企业生存与发展问题的探讨

由美国次贷危机而引发的金融危机对全球航运市场产生了严重影响，对航运市场特别是干散货市场和集装箱市场造成了巨大的冲击，使航运市场跌入低谷。虽然现在有回暖的趋势，但今年的行情仍然不容乐观。航运企业应该及时调整经营策略，采取积极的应对措施，将金融危机给企业带来的损失降低到最小程度。     

Korean liner shipping in the era of global alliances

In the course of the last two decades Korean shipping has emerged as a major player in the liner market. In 1970 there was not a single container ship in the Korean fleet; yet, within the next two decades, shipping companies from Korea have become included among the top 10 liner operators in the world, in the context of a spectacular ascent of Asian companies in international container shipping. During the same period the organization of liner shipping itself underwent major changes. In the 1970s and 1980s, pools and powerful consortia prevailed, maximizing frequency and optimizing fleet deployment under pressure from the high investment entailed by containerization. The era of consortia, however, came to a close in the early 1990s; intermodalism and the expansion of the major liner companies into forward and backward segments of the transport chain rendered them inflexible for pursuing individual strategies of product diversification with a view to larger market shares. Global alliances were finally born as a result of a major reshuffling of co-operation agreements and of the globalization of the production process on the demand side. The aim of this paper is to follow and assess the options available to an aggressive low-cost national fleet in its journey to competitive maturity through a period of changing organization of liner shipping, focusing on the course of the leading Korean container company, and one of the largest in the world today, Hanjin. It highlights at the same time both the deep structural changes which liner shipping has undergone in the last two decades and the effects of current changes, such as the recent wave of mergers in this sector.     

Meta-frontier function approach to operational efficiency for shipping companies

ABSTRACT

This study uses a meta-frontier function approach to estimate operational efficiency and technology gaps for shipping companies. Researchers have evaluated the relative efficiency of shipping firms with the assumption that shipping firms operate under one frontier technology. However, the assumption of one frontier technology is being argued by efficiency literature. Therefore, this study estimates relative efficiency of shipping firms in different market segments (dry bulk, liquid bulk, and containerized cargo), possibly operating with different technologies and, hence, under different frontiers. This study uses a meta-frontier function approach that allows us to distinguish separate frontiers for different groups and decompose efficiency scores relative to the meta-frontier. Data used in this study is collected from Thomson One Banker from 2001-2013 in the form of unbalanced panel data. Empirical results suggest that dry bulk firms’ production technology is more advanced than others and the production frontier is the closest to that of the meta-frontier. In addition, efficiency scores are all low, but containerized cargo firms achieve higher technological efficiency than the other two groups. It is also suggested that containerized cargo and liquid bulk firms should prioritize improvements in their production technology and dry bulk firms should prioritize improving group efficiency.     

我国远洋干散货船型经济论证

干散货运输市场是世界海运市场的3大市场之一,虽然运输市场机制趋于完善,但受运价、船价和油价的影响,市场波动较大。针对这一现实情况,文章以船型技术经济论证方法为基础,建立单船运输经济性测算模型,判定出最优船型,并对运价、船价和油价3个影响因子进行敏感性分析,为航运企业制定船队发展规划和港口企业制定到港船型规划提供参考。     

沿海干散货运输市场预测及建议

通过数据详尽分析2009年沿海干散货运输市场的水运形势,同时根据电力行业、钢铁行业的发展对未来2-3年中国煤炭需求、金属矿石需求和干散货运输市场进行预测,建议重视集疏运系统建设,签订长期协议,提高合同兑现率。