A Turkish shipping company has established an Irish firm to manage six chemical tankers worth €120 million in a bid to avail of a lower tax rate and financial expertise in the Republic, a conference was told yesterday.
Chemstar Tankers, the newly established Dublin subsidiary of the Istanbul-based Yardimci Shipping Group, will shortly take delivery of the six tankers.
The Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO), which organised yesterday's Ship Finance and Investment Forum in Dublin, said the Irish ship finance sector could be worth more than €10 billion by 2010.
Chemstar's joint managing director Mark Avery said he would be using Irish banks to finance the vessels.
Bank of Ireland is the main financier of commercial ships in the Irish market, providing €1.2-€1.5 billion worth of debt for the €1.7 billion in marine assets funded by Irish-based firms.
Mr Avery said he would be looking for assistance from Irish professional firms to raise money on the capital markets. He said he hoped to float Chemstar in two years' time.
"I would very much hope that we would do a listing on the Irish Stock Exchange but it may be that we do a dual listing, possibly on the New York, London or Oslo exchanges as well," he told The Irish Times.
The Yardimci Shipping Group has 25 ships under construction in Turkey, some of which will be delivered to the Irish company. It already has nine vessels in operation.
He said there had been a huge boom in shipbuilding in Turkey in recent years.
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