Leasing Fund Business

• Aircraft are, technologically speaking, extremely high-value-added service industrial goods. The development of new aircraft requires a mountain of capital, time and accumulated know-how, and production of a certain model must continue for many years for the initial investment to be recouped. Given this fact, aircraft tend not to become obsolete very fast; rather, it is a very slow process.
• Market prices for aircraft fluctuate with changes in supply and demand, paralleling global economic trends. Nevertheless, because Boeing and Airbus dominate the market, production adjustments these companies make tend to keep swings in market prices under control.
• Laws require aircraft to be serviced and maintained according to methods approved by the aviation authorities in each country. An insurance system is also in place. These measures ensure that aircraft retain their asset value.

These factors promote widespread use of operating leases for aircraft.

• Marine transport containers are essentially boxes made of steel or aluminum. They are manufactured to specific dimensions set by the International Standards Organization to facilitate loading on to container ships. The standard lengths are 20 and 40 feet and the standard heights are eight and eight-and-a-half feet. ISO standards are considered to be the most successful standards in the world.
• Marine transport containers are noteworthy in that they are low-tech and standardized, and therefore the risk of becoming technologically obsolete is low. Consequently, investment in marine transport containers has attracted increasingly wider attention since the 1980s as a business opportunity.
• Of note, global trade volume has expanded over the past few years, fueled by economic growth in China and progress in many countries of Asia. This has pushed cargo efficiency on the container ships of major domestic and overseas shipping lines has topped 90%. Essentially, the ships are carrying a capacity load. Demand for cargo space is expected to remain brisk as global trade increases, a situation that will spur demand for marine transport containers as well.

• Ship investment, epitomized by the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, has been considered an attractive business venture since olden days.
• There are various types of ships, such as freighters, tankers and container ships, each built to carry a specific type of cargo and of a size matched to purpose. While the aircraft industry is dominated by two giant manufacturers, the shipbuilding industry comprises a wider array of companies, big and small, that are able to build to owner specifications. Consequently, there is future value in specific ship features, and such value differs greatly depending on ship type and size.