Factors Affecting the Dynamics of Yield Premia on Shipping Seasoned High Yield Bonds

This paper investigates factors that can explain the dynamics of yield premia on seasoned high yield bonds of shipping companies. Our analysis utilises 40 seasoned high yield bonds offered by 32 shipping companies between April 1998 and December 2002 and a set of microeconomic, macroeconomic and, industry related factors. Our model suggests that the dynamics of credit premia of seasoned shipping high yield bonds can be explained by: credit rating; term-to-maturity; changes in earnings in the shipping market, as well as in the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds; and the yield on the Merrill Lynch single-B index