Page 6: of Marine News Magazine (September 2026)

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Insights: Finance

Brett Hewitt, Wells Fargo

JONES ACT FLEET FINANCING

As political chatter centers on rebuilding the U.S. maritime industry, Brett Hewitt,

Executive Director, Marine Finance, Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, offers a lender’s-eye view of a market where vessels are expensive, assets can remain productive for decades and the quality of the operator can be every bit as important as the collateral.

For lenders, one of the Jones Act market’s biggest attrac- have driven newbuild prices signi? cantly higher. Hewitt tions is remarkably straightforward: boats last a long time. said the important question for a lender is whether those “The collateral has a long useful life,” Hewitt said, noting elevated prices represent a temporary spike or a durable that vessels are documented with the U.S. Coast Guard shift in vessel values.

and subject to inspection, maintenance and regularly After more than six years of in? ationary pressure, Wells scheduled drydockings. “We know that collateral is going Fargo increasingly views higher newbuild costs as a struc- to be there to support our deals as we structure them.” tural reality. For familiar assets — hopper barges, ship-assist

The Jones Act itself provides another layer of comfort. tugs and dredges, for example — the bank can rely upon

The law creates a de? ned domestic market protected from decades of experience and established secondary markets.

foreign competition, something Hewitt says can contrib- That can translate into surprisingly ? exible ? nancing.

ute to relatively consistent cash ? ows for established opera- “We might like to see 20% down, maybe 10%, maybe tors. But collateral is only one piece of the credit puzzle. 100% ? nancing for the right credits,” Hewitt said.

Whether Wells Fargo is providing conventional term Change the asset to an all-electric tug, wind turbine in- debt or bareboat charter ? nancing — where the bank owns stallation vessel or service operation vessel, however, and the vessel, takes the depreciation and charters the asset — the equation changes. With fewer comparable assets and

Hewitt said cash ? ow remains paramount. Beyond that, less historical evidence of residual value, Wells Fargo might

Wells Fargo digs deeply into an operator’s safety record, require 25% to 50% equity.

reputation, management team, market position and cus- Simply put: the less the lender knows about the collateral, tomer relationships. the more skin it wants the owner to have in the game. That

Safety, in particular, is hardly a box-checking exercise. philosophy extends directly into maritime decarbonization.

“If you make a mistake, you’re at fault, there’s a major Diesel-electric propulsion has now accumulated enough casualty or signi? cant environmental event, that could operating history to provide lenders with some comfort. take the whole house down,” Hewitt said. Batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, ammonia and other emerg-

Hence, lenders like companies with proven manage- ing solutions bring greater uncertainty.

ment, pricing power, meaningful market share and long- Hewitt worries not simply about whether a technology standing customer relationships. In the marine business, works, but whether today’s cutting-edge propulsion system history matters. might become tomorrow’s Betamax.

“If we have to take something that all of a sudden is the three-year-old model that no one else wants anymore,”

In? ation Changes the Math

That history becomes particularly important when the Hewitt said, liquidating that asset becomes a very differ- price of the asset being ? nanced keeps climbing. ent proposition. The answer can be more owner equity, less

Shipyard labor, steel, engines, components and tariffs lender residual-value exposure and shorter ? nancing terms.

6 | MN September 2026