This article discusses investment risks in shipping. The reproduction and development in shipping has been acchieved by investment only. Investment means having to spend today in order to have more tomorrow. The main problem is that when decision about an investment is made, the owner does not know how the market will develop in the future. The long term speculation is particularly unreliable, because both shipping markets (cargo shipping market and market for ships) on which the owners are dependant, are volatile and are moving in irregular cycles. The product of such uncertainity is high degree risk of investiment in shipping. Since the future profitability heavily relate on the investment, the basic risks that an investor undertake are: investment in the wrong asset and the wrong value, or the purchase price of the vessel. Indeed, the purchase price of the vessel depends on the type and the tonnage, but all it, depends on timing of investment. Vessel purchased at the right time and at the right price, should multiply benefits for her owner. Therefore, the owner has to approach the issue of investment carefully and seriously in order to reduce investment risks. Indeed the owner must primarily answer the two basic questions: what vessel to invest and when to do so. It is those two questions that hold the key to managing investment risks in shipping.
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