Fitch looks at container ship deals

Fitch Ratings said yesterday that container ship securitizations could achieve an investment grade rating.  Fitch said that container ship securitizations are similar to those of commercial aircraft since these sectors’ values are both volatile. However, the container ship market is less deep and liquid compared to the commercial aircraft sector. There are far fewer third party sales and charter rates are very volatile.But Fitch expects that a business trust or securitization of container ship assets could reach investment grade by using prior aircraft securitizations as a criteria template. The additional risks in a container ship securitization would be covered under more conservative criteria than commercial aircraft at similar LTV or coverage ratios. Standard & Poor’s rated the first container ship securitization earlier this month at ‘AAA’.