Dagfinn Lunde, Chairman and Co-founder of eShipfinance, brings nearly five decades of maritime finance expertise to the industry. After navigating the 2008 financial crisis at DVB Bank and witnessing traditional lenders’ permanent retreat from shipping, he co-founded the fintech platform in 2018 alongside Marina Tzoutzouraki and Tarun Gulati.
The article highlights Lunde’s philosophy that while shipping scores poorly on probability of default due to volatility, loss given default has historically been low—a lesson he learned restructuring troubled loans in the 1986 Norwegian shipping crisis. eShipfinance has since analyzed over 600 projects representing more than $3 billion in indicative term sheets, connecting shipowners with 60+ alternative capital sources including private equity, high-yield funds, and non-traditional lenders.
Operating with minimal fixed costs and no employees (using partners remunerated through dividends), Lunde remains bullish on shipping’s fundamentals. He views market disruptions—from Suez Canal closures to geopolitical tensions—as opportunities that increase tonne-miles and freight demand. His core message: banks won’t return to shipping finance meaningfully, but alternative capital has permanently filled the gap for those who understand the sector’s cyclical nature.
Read the full interview: https://eshipfinance.com/the-eternal-optimist-dagfinn-lunde-interview/