3.1.4 Long-term Repayment Structure
Another attraction of lease financing is that leasing can assist in matching the rental profiles with income streams for the purpose of sound financial management of the shipping company.
Shipping companies have always been inclined to translate the costs of a particular vessel, both capital costs as well as operating expenses, into a fixed day rate. It appears that traditionally it has been common practice to structure lease payments to match the expected earnings of the shipowner. In debt financing, the loan payments, i.e.,principal and interest, are greatest in the early years because of the higher interest payments. By contrast, hire payments of a lease are usually distributed in equal amounts throughout the period of the lease. Indeed, if the lessor and lessee agree,they can even arrive at an agreement whereby in the early years the payments are lower, so that the rental profiles match the income streams. In this sense, as far as the shipowner is concerned, lease rental payments are operating expenses.