After more than 20 years of reform and opening up, China's small and medium-sized shipping enterprises have grown from the initial stage to an indispensable new force in the shipping market. Although small and medium-sized shipping enterprises have developed rapidly, a considerable number of them are facing the problem of high financing threshold. At present, the main reasons for the financing difficulties of small and medium-sized shipping enterprises are: small scale of operation, unstable operating performance, and easy to bring risks to investors; Credit rating is not popular enough, and default affects corporate image; Unable to bear the high financing cost; The mortgage guarantee system is not perfect; The cumbersome financing procedures make many enterprises flinch. Therefore, the government should actively build a platform for the survival and development of small and medium-sized shipping enterprises, and small and medium-sized shipping enterprises should take the initiative to improve their own quality and financing qualifications to enhance their attractiveness to investors.
At this stage, small and medium-sized shipping enterprises can obtain the required funds through the following channels:
Government funding
Government financial support is an important part of the source of funds for small and medium-sized shipping enterprises. The government attaches great importance to and supports the healthy development of the shipping industry.
1. Strive for the government to set up a special fund to start small and medium-sized shipping enterprises.
Local governments have special funds to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises every year. For example, fishermen who are "changing careers" and entering the shipping industry are in urgent need of funds to buy equipment. The government can give them some start-up funds within a certain period of time to help them get twice the result with half the effort.
2. Establish and use credit guarantee companies (funds)
(1) Government-funded credit guarantee companies (funds). It is an independent guarantee institution with legal personality, which implements market-oriented operation, accepts government supervision and does not take profit as its main purpose. At present, small and medium-sized shipping enterprises should mainly set up such credit guarantee companies (funds).
(2) Mutual guarantee companies (funds). It is characterized by self-investment, self-service, self-risk, independent legal person and non-profit of small and medium-sized shipping enterprises, and adopts membership management form. Eligible small and medium-sized shipping enterprises can be accepted as members as long as they abide by the articles of association and pay a certain membership fee. Member small and medium-sized shipping enterprises can apply for secured loans several times the membership fee.
(3) Commercial guarantee companies. It is mainly funded by enterprises and social individuals, and has the basic characteristics of independent legal person, commercial operation and profit-making purpose.
(4) Establish corresponding re-guarantee institutions. According to the actual situation in the region, set up special shipping insurance institutions or encourage existing local insurance institutions to provide loan insurance business for qualified small and medium-sized shipping enterprises; When small and medium-sized shipping companies are unable to repay loans, insurance institutions will give certain compensation to lending banks or financial institutions.
Credit support from banks
The shipping industry is a capital-intensive industry, with large capital investment, which determines that without the credit support of banks, the shipping industry will not be able to develop continuously. At present, the national macro-policy regulation and control, bank credit is tight, but banks should continue to give priority to supporting small and medium-sized shipping enterprises with development prospects, especially those that have contributed to the local economy. In order to obtain credit support, small and medium-sized shipping enterprises must strengthen their credit awareness, truthfully reflect their operating conditions and ensure timely repayment of loans. We should also actively negotiate with local banks and relevant financial institutions to create conditions for obtaining bank loans. Banks should formulate loan conditions and approval procedures suitable for the characteristics of small and medium-sized shipping enterprises and create a flexible and diverse loan system.
1. Joint credit granting in different places. We can seek a lead bank to provide loans to enterprises in a unified way, and then enterprises will provide necessary funds to cooperative enterprises, and local banks will cooperate in supervision. It can also be jointly provided by the lead bank and the cooperative enterprise's banks in different places to provide loans respectively. In this way, the shipping enterprises with large capital demand are given financial support to spread risks.
2. Introduce "closed loan" into the credit procedures of small and medium-sized shipping enterprises. This loan method can be used for special purposes and closed operation, which can not only reduce the risk of bank loans, but also provide financial help for a product with advantages for small and medium-sized shipping enterprises.
3. Banks should make breakthroughs and innovations in mortgage loans. There are three ways to provide secured loans to natural persons: mortgage, pledge of rights and mortgage plus guarantee. Property that can be mortgaged includes personal property, land use right and means of transportation; Personal property that can be pledged includes savings deposit certificates, voucher-type government bonds and registered financial bonds; According to the characteristics of ship's capital turnover and recovery, mortgage revolving loan can also be implemented. In the case of insufficient collateral for enterprises, the accounts receivable of enterprises should be considered as collateral to solve the problem of time lag in capital operation of shipping enterprises in capacity investment.
Make full use of direct financing means
For most small and medium-sized shipping enterprises with small scale and backward management, the entry threshold of direct financing market is higher and the financing cost is higher. The main financing methods are equity financing, debt financing, venture capital and asset securitization. Equity and creditor's rights financing refers to enterprises raising funds by issuing stocks and bonds. At present, the passing rate of equity financing of small and medium-sized shipping enterprises is still very low, mainly because the restructuring plan is not suitable for the modern enterprise system. However, the growth enterprise market for small and medium-sized enterprises is more suitable for small and medium-sized shipping enterprises to obtain funds from the securities market. In addition, for small and medium-sized shipping enterprises with excellent market prospects, indirect listing and optimal allocation of financial capital and industrial capital can be realized through capital operation methods such as acquisition, merger, custody or equity replacement of similar listed companies. Therefore, for most small and medium-sized shipping enterprises, it is necessary to speed up the system innovation, improve the corporate governance structure, overcome the disadvantages of "one dominant company", establish a management system conducive to their own development, and use a variety of direct financing methods to raise funds.
Financial leasing innovation
Financial leasing is a kind of credit method with the direct purpose of financing, which is very suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises with small capital scale and high value of single equipment. On July 1 1, 2002, Chongqing Changjiang Waterway Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Gold Coast Enterprise Development Co., Ltd. signed a financial lease contract with a total price of 654.38 billion yuan and the subject matter of 20 ships. In this innovative leasing model, the Gold Coast has designed a series of guarantee and counter-guarantee agreements, making full use of the bank credit and the value of the leased property, thus forming a value chain in which all parties share risks and benefits. The so-called innovative leasing, that is, first, the Gold Coast signed 20 ship leasing contracts with the Yangtze River Channel, and then the Gold Coast invited tenders to select ship manufacturers and signed procurement contracts, and the manufacturers supplied goods according to the requirements of the Yangtze River Channel; The local bank in Chongqing issued a rent repayment guarantee for the Yangtze River water transport and a letter of guarantee for the Gold Coast. Banks in Shanghai provided loans of 654.38 billion yuan to the Gold Coast. After the manufacturer gives the ship to the Yangtze River for water transportation, the latter pays the rent to the Gold Coast through the local bank every year; The lease term is 5 years. After the rent is paid, the Gold Coast will transfer the property rights of 20 ships to the Yangtze River Channel at a symbolic price. This practice closely combines finance, trade and production, and effectively overlaps bank credit, commercial credit and consumer credit, forming a super-large value chain in which lessees, banks, leasing companies and manufacturers "enjoy benefits and take risks". In the past, the risks of traditional financial leasing were borne by the lessor or lessee alone, and shared by the lessee, the bank, the supplier and the lessor.
The benefits of innovative leasing to enterprises are various: it can maintain and enhance the credit status of enterprises and enhance their lending ability; It can reduce one-time capital investment, reduce the repayment pressure of enterprises, and reduce investment risks and financial risks; It has the characteristics of accelerating equipment depreciation, so that enterprises can reduce financing costs and recover their investment as soon as possible; Low cost and high comprehensive benefit; Flexible operation mode.
Because small and medium-sized shipping enterprises in many places have developed on the basis of supporting their families, although they have reached a considerable scale at present, most of them still have problems such as small transportation capacity, weak financing ability and insufficient stamina. Therefore, they can use this method to seek the funds they need.
Effective use of private capital
The involvement of private capital in the financing market has the advantages of fast financing speed, convenient fund mobilization and low threshold. In some areas where private capital is active, a group of "angel" investors have emerged, who have concentrated the funds scattered among the people and invested them in small and medium-sized shipping enterprises with potential and in the initial stage. Due to the small capital demand of enterprises at this stage, with the growth of enterprises, they can recover funds and make profits through equity transfer, acquisition and merger. Therefore, small and medium-sized shipping enterprises can also use private capital channels to supplement the lack of financing means.
To sum up, if small and medium-sized shipping enterprises want to break through the "bottleneck" of financing difficulties, they must choose appropriate financing methods under the guidance of government policies according to their own operating conditions, management level, asset efficiency and capital turnover speed, so as to solve their own capital needs for survival and development.