Bank financing of new and second-hand ships remains the leading source of finance for shipowners. This traditional source of finance has been forced to adjust to a new era of shipping over the last several years. The current market is characterised by increasingly volatile (and generally depressed) freight rates, increased sources of finance coupled with an excess of available capital, and consequent oversupply of tonnage. Market conditions have placed tremendous pressure on many owners, and lenders routinely find themselves consumed with tending to defaults and restructurings.