China’s stimulus package is good news for shipping, but a widening rift between Washington and Beijing is a bigger threat lurking in the background, two Greek owners told the Marine Money conference in Athens on Tuesday.

Aristides Pittas, principal of US-listed bulker and container ship outfits EuroDry and EuroSeas, told a crowd of about 300 at the Eugenides Foundation: “The biggest risk that shipping can face is deglobalisation.”