JP Morgan, which once financed the voyage of the Titanic, has raised almost half a billion dollars from insurers and pension funds for investment in "distressed shipping".

The US bank's fund management arm, JP Morgan Asset Management, said today it has raised $480m - $80m more than targeted - for its second Global Maritime Investment fund, which buys ships in troubled areas of the global maritime transport industry. Investors include the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement System, which committed $30m in 2015.