It has been a testing few years for Bernd Kortum, a trailblazer of Germany’s KG (limited partnership) financing system. of Germany’s KG (limited partnership) financing system.

His container shipping empire suffered from the slump in the market that led to the sale of Norddeutsche Reederei H Schuldt (NRS) to V. Ships last year.

But Kortum, 76, believes the KG system — which built Germany into the largest container shipping nation in the world prior to the global financial crisis — has been harshly judged.