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Owner of Rickmers, Bertram Rickmers, could lose his entire empire

FOLLOWING the rejection by HSH Nordbank of a proposal for a financial rescue plan for the Rickmers Group, and the subsequent filing for insolvency by the German shipping group, owner Bertram Rickmers could stand to lose his entire empire, ShippingWatch of Denmark reported.

In the financial rescue plan which the bank rejected, Mr Rickmers would keep an ownership share of almost 25 per cent. However, should Rickmers collapse, Mr Rickmers could lose his entire stake in the company and it will be a historic moment for German shipping which has been struggling since the beginning of the global financial crisis.

Besides shipowners and management companies, the financial crisis and downturn in global shipping has pulled the rug out from under German shipping banks and unleashed a veritable collapse in the German shipping financing system of KG funds, whereby private investors with tax incentives have invested huge sums in ships.

Mr Rickmers and his brother Erck Rickmers, who have both operated two different companies, are the fifth generation in the Rickmers family and have to an extent characterised and symbolised German shipping.

"We are witnessing an endgame for shipping in Hamburg right now. Values are being distributed, and the sector may have to fall even further. We don't know when there'll be a new wave in shipping, but right now it's like the time after 2011 when we suddenly saw the market change quickly," Torsten Teichert, CEO of capital fund Lloyd Fonds, recently told ShippingWatch.