Are shipowners ready for higher interest rates? Rally in interest costs potentially dangerous for shipping companies

Shipping is a capital-intensive industry, which is heavily dependent on debt financing. LIBOR (the primary benchmark for short-term interest rates globally) has started to increase at a faster pace over the past five months compared to prior increases witnessed as of the end of 2015. In December 2015, 3-month USD LIBOR stood at 0.54%, reaching …