Working capital
Invoices turned into cash, and supplier payments funded without moving your own terms.
Trade finance origination
Working capital for the shipping industry — structured around how vessels actually trade.
Marine Trade Finance connects physical suppliers, ship agents, ship chandlers, port service providers, shipowners and exporters with the working capital lines they need, structured through a network of specialist funding partners.
What we do
Working capital, structured around the trade
We originate and structure receivables finance, supply chain finance, supplier payment programmes, import and export trade finance, and funding for equipment and retrofit projects across the maritime and international trade sector. Our team works with a panel of funding partners, matching each client to the structure and lender that fits their business, their buyers, and their timeline.
Trade
Import and export lines for extended payment cycles across multiple markets.
Operations & assets
Port, agency and canal transit costs, plus funding for decarbonisation equipment.
Who we finance
Built around how your business actually trades
Physical suppliers, agents and chandlers
Turn invoices into working capital
For physical suppliers, fuel suppliers and traders, ship agents, ship chandlers, port service providers and exporters — outstanding invoices become cash now, including confidential structures where the relationship with the buyer requires it.
Discuss a receivables lineShipowners, operators and technical managers
Payment terms that follow the vessel's cash flow
Bunkers, stores, spares and services funded so that outgoings sit alongside the vessel's earning cycle rather than the supplier's invoice date. Port disbursements, agency and husbandry costs, and canal transit dues — including Suez and Panama — covered before freight or hire is collected.
Discuss vessel fundingExporters, importers and commodity traders
Pay suppliers early without moving your own terms
A funding partner settles your approved invoices early, at no cost to your own payment date or cash position. For imports, we arrange for your overseas supplier to be paid at shipment or against documents, and you repay once the cargo has been sold.
For commodity traders and companies outside the direct shipping sector, we also arrange supply chain finance lines — where a funding partner confirms and pays your approved invoices early, and you settle on your normal terms.
Discuss a trade lineWhy Marine Trade Finance
Financing isn't just capital.
It's knowing the trade.
We work exclusively in shipping, maritime services and international trade — bunkers, agency, chandlery, port services, canal transits and cargo. We understand the buyers, the cycles and the risk profile.
- A funding panel, not a single lender — each deal matched to the right partner
- Deals scoped, packaged and presented to funders quickly
- Confidential and non-notification structures where the buyer relationship requires it
For partners and investors
The receivable, in plain terms
Every facility MTF originates sits against a defined underlying transaction: fuel delivered, port costs incurred, agency services rendered. The debtor is an identified commercial shipping company. The tenor is fixed at origination. The receivable extinguishes itself when the debtor pays — there is no residual, no renewal risk, and no dependency on the supplier's continued trading.
| Asset type | Short-tenor trade receivables — maritime sector |
| Underlying debtors | Shipowners, operators and charterers — worldwide |
| Tenor | 30 to 90 days |
| Origination basis | Delivery confirmed, invoice issued, debtor identified |
| Structure | Factoring (with or without notification) or confirmed payables |
| Recourse | Non-recourse structures available against creditworthy debtors |
Services
Fund the trade, the voyage and the asset
Ten structures across three areas, arranged through our panel of specialist funding partners.
Working capital
Receivables Finance
Convert outstanding invoices into immediate working capital. Available with or without notification to the buyer, depending on the relationship and the structure required. Used by physical suppliers, ship agents, ship chandlers, port service providers and exporters.
Supply Chain Finance
Extend your own payment terms while your suppliers get paid early, funded by a third party rather than your own balance sheet.
Supplier Early Payment Programmes
A structured payment programme in which your approved invoices are made available to your suppliers for early settlement by a funding partner. Your supplier chooses whether to take the money early; your own payment date, terms and cash position stay exactly as they are.
Extended Payment Terms for Owners and Operators
Bunkers, lubricants, stores, spares, repairs and services supplied on deferred terms, so an owner or operator can align outgoings with the vessel's earning cycle rather than with the supplier's invoice date. The supplier is paid on their own terms by the funding partner; repayment is set to match the trade.
Trade
Export & Trade Finance
Working capital solutions for exporters managing extended payment cycles across multiple markets.
Import Trade Finance
Funding to bring goods in, with a supplier payment service attached: we arrange for your overseas supplier to be paid at shipment or against documents, and you repay once the cargo has been sold or the goods have worked through your cycle. Useful where a supplier wants payment up front and your own buyers pay on terms.
Maritime operations and assets
Port, Agency & Transit Finance
Cover for the costs that fall due before freight or hire is collected: port disbursements, agency and husbandry accounts, towage, pilotage, provisions, and canal transit dues — including Suez Canal and Panama Canal transits, where the full toll is payable before the vessel moves.
Equipment & Retrofit Finance
Funding for maritime decarbonisation and efficiency projects — shore power and OPS connections, exhaust gas and emissions equipment, ballast water treatment, energy-saving devices, hull and propulsion upgrades, engine conversions and dry dock retrofit packages. The cost is spread across the working life of the equipment instead of falling on a single yard invoice.
With regulatory costs rising and efficiency requirements tightening, retrofit economics have shifted. Equipment Finance spreads the capital cost across the working life of the installation.
One buyer, multiple facilities
When a shipowner or operator is already financing bunkers through us, adding stores, port costs or agency accounts to the same facility is straightforward — because the buyer is the same and the earning cycle is the same. Outgoings are structured so repayment aligns with when freight or hire is collected, rather than with when each supplier sends their invoice.
One conversation. The right funder.
Tell us what the business needs and we scope it, package it and take it to the funding partner most likely to say yes — rather than pushing every client through a single product.
Start a conversationSector focus
Shipping, maritime services and international trade only. We know the buyers, the cycles and the risk profile.
Speed
Deals are scoped, packaged and presented to funders quickly, because delay costs our clients working capital.
Beyond the invoice
Where a client needs an asset rather than liquidity — retrofits, shore power, equipment — we structure that funding as well.
Company
Operators who structure, structurers who operate
Marine Trade Finance is a trade finance origination firm focused on the shipping, maritime services and international trade sectors. We work alongside a panel of specialist funding partners to structure receivables finance, supply chain finance, supplier payment programmes and import and export trade finance for physical suppliers, ship agents, ship chandlers, port service providers, shipowners, operators and exporters.
The same panel funds the operational side of the voyage — port disbursements, agency accounts and canal transit dues, including Suez and Panama — and the capital side of the fleet, where owners need equipment for maritime decarbonisation, retrofits and efficiency upgrades without committing the cash up front.
Our team brings direct operating experience in shipping and bunker markets, combined with trade finance structuring expertise. That combination means we can assess a deal the way an operator would, then package it the way a funder needs to see it.
The approach
Liquidity shouldn't wait
for the voyage to end.
Most shipping finance is designed around how banks work, not around how vessels trade. Bunkers are paid before the cargo earns. Port costs fall due before hire is collected. Suppliers invoice on 30-day terms but wait 90. Marine Trade Finance exists to fix that timing problem — structuring working capital around the actual rhythm of the trade, not the calendar on a bank's system.
The team
The people behind the structures
Our team combines direct experience in shipping operations and bunker markets with trade finance structuring. We assess deals the way operators do and package them the way funders need to see them.
Contact
Got a question?
Tell us about your business and we'll come back to you within one business day — whether you're a supplier, an owner, an agent or an exporter.