The Lloyds Banking Group PLC is reportedly looking for a buyer for £400 million worth of shipping loan portfolios.
English, Scandinavian and German banks have in the past funded new ship construction, but are now sinking under the weight of billions of dollars of problem loans.
Potential investors are claiming that the prices being requested by Lloyds are still too high to consider investment. Lenders have now imposed much stricter rules for lending and are charging much higher premiums.
The problem has been brought on by a variety of industry conditions such as the influx of new ship builds from China.