
KGAL ship funds have enabled investors to benefit from the growth of global trade since 2003. The markets for ships are highly cyclical. Following many years of growth, we are currently facing one of the worst crises the industry has ever seen.
Long-term contracts with charterers with good credit ratings and loss-of-hire insurance policies shielded our investors in the initial years of the crisis. However, the expiration of contracts is currently leading to a host of new challenges. Ships have to be maintained to a high standard through professional asset management to ensure that, despite limited deployment options, they remain the first choice for charterers in future. We earn the trust we need from banks and investors to pursue our activities through reliable cash-flow management and controlling.
With AL Ships GmbH, the company responsible for our joint activities with V.Ships, we are best equipped to deal with these challenges and to harness the significant opportunities for the future that arise from the crisis.
KGAL’s risk-averse approach to ship funds has proved its worth in the crisis. Matching refinancing in US dollars avoids exchange rate losses. Ship funds assuming responsibility for the operating cost risk is an essential precondition for tax exemption under the specific tonnage tax for shipping. As our management fees are partly linked to operating costs, we are, like our investors, keen to keep running costs low.

Dr. Jochen Körber
Head of Shipping Department
E-mail Jochen.Koerber(>@<)kgal.de
The V.Ships Group is an international holding company and one of the world’s largest providers of ship management services. The group currently manages a fleet of over 1,000 ships employing a staff of over 24,000. For KGAL the partnership with V.Ships provides direct access to the market and to first-rate market expertise and infrastructure.
We operate two long-term joint ventures with Deutsche Lufthansa AG: Lufthansa Leasing GmbH, founded in 1989, and GOAL German Operating Aircraft Leasing GmbH & Co. KG, which handles the asset management of all operational KGAL aircraft funds.
The private equity expert ACP is a wholly owned Allianz subsidiary. ACP is one of the leading European investment companies in alternative investments, and Germany’s largest private equity investor. Its business activities are in direct private equity, indirect private equity, infrastructure and renewables. ACP has offices in Munich, London, New York and Singapore. The company has been active in Germany since 1998.