Financially troubled Judger Shipbuilding is trying to sell two 82000dwt bulkers which were abandoned by a Hong Kong owner in order to improve the company’s financial situation.
Wenzhou government has already offered help to save the shipbuilder including offering financial support from its “emergency fund pool” and asking banks to offer favorable loans to Judger.
“If Judger going bankrupt, the banks will also suffer big losses; the non-performing loan ratio in Wenzhou is already very high, it is a wise choice that the government and banks work together to help enterprise get through difficulties,” said Zhou Dewen, an economist from Wenzhou.
The non-performing loan ratio in Wenzhou has reached 3.44% in October, up 830% in 16 months due to the credit crisis, and it is the highest in Zhejiang province and still on a growing trend.
Another local economist said instead of blaming the sluggish market, Judger should look at its own problems, “If you couldn’t survive without bank loans, that’s your own problem, you can’t blame the banks. Currently the most serious problem is overcapacity, from a macro point of view, how can we solve this problem with no shipyard going bankrupt?”