As the banks respond to the world economic crisis and their own lack of liquidity, their cautious lending policies mean that they are trying to withdraw from commitments which they had previously made to new ship-building projects. Some shipping lines will be forced to cancel orders, which will obviously have a long term effect on shipping capacity, and in turn, freight rates in the future. Capital intensive companies throughout the shipping and forwarding industries are struggling to pay the interest on their bank loans, and banks are looking at ways to reduce their commitment. One possible solution for them would be to persuade weaker ship-owners to transfer their tonnage to stronger owners; what the banks certainly will not want to do is re-possess ships.