Ship Financing in Germany: A Possible Area of Application for Islamic Finance?

Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,3, University of Hamburg, language: English, comment: „Herr Sahler widmet sich einem sehr aktuellen, komplexen und noch wenig bearbeiteten Forschungsgebiet und stellt sich einer hohen Herausforderung, da er mehrere große wissenschaftliche Themen analysiert und verknüpft. Diese Aufgabe kann er mit seiner Arbeit ausgezeichnet erfüllen. Ihm gelingen eine überzeugende kritische Analyse der aktuellen Literatur und die inhaltliche Begründung von praxisrelevanten Handlungsempfehlungen. Damit liegt eine weit überdurchschnittliche Masterarbeit vor." Prof. Dr. B. und Dr. Z. , abstract: The beginnings of modern Islamic finance date back to the 1970s when some financial institutions in Egypt and the Middle East started to offer interest-free financial services in order to comply with the rules laid down in the Sharia. Services, however, were not yet totally Sharia-compliant. Besides a lack of the necessary infrastructure and trained staff, a commonly accepted definition of what constitutes Sharia-compliance was missing. Even today, opinions differ widely if certain presumably Sharia-compliant financial products really deserve the branding. Nevertheless, a wide array of Islamic financial products ranging from home financing to insurance are nowadays available. Though the industry is currently managing Sharia-compliant assets of USD 895 billion, Islamic finance certainly must still be considered as niche market. However, globalization in general and the flow of funds into Muslim oil producing countries in particular could further strengthen the position of Islamic financial products. In comparison, the concept of joining forces to finance ships dates back to the 16th century. Only few could afford to individually provide all the funds needed to finance an entire vessel. Although financing schemes in the shipping industry have become more sophisticated over the centuries, the b