Commerzbank said Thursday, as it reported its year-end results, that it had reduced the size of its shipping portfolio by €4.5 billion ($6.14 billion) — approximately 24 percent — to €14 billion.
The bank, Germany’s second largest, said that in trimming the portfolio to that level, it has reached a goal it set for itself a year ahead of schedule.
The company has been trying to reduce its shipping loans for more than a year. For example, at the end of 2013, it sold an investment in a fleet of 14 chemical tankers to a buyer affiliated with Oaktree Capital Management, the U.S.-based distressed-debt specialist.