Chinese banks should play a bigger role in helping the world’s shipping industry, stricken by record order books and in “desperate” need of capital, said an executive at Nordea Bank AB, the biggest loan coordinator. World shipyards have seen their order books double to about $350 billion this year from 2007, as bank loans shrank to $187 billion in 2008 from $346 billion in 2006, according to data from Nordea Bank. … Banks have curbed lending because of increased risk as shipowners struggle to obtain funding for new vessels. The International Monetary Fund expects world trade volume in goods and services to shrink 11.9 percent this year before rebounding 2.5 percent next year.
