German shipping veteran Bernd Kortum dies aged 78
Founder of one of Germany’s leading container companies and a pioneer of the KG financing system dies after a long illness.
Bernd Kortum has died at the age of 78. Kortum was a pioneer of Germany’s KG (limited partnership system) and a founder of Norddeutsche Vermogen Group, which at one time had over 100 vessels in its fleet.
The financial crisis hit his shipping interests hard and for many years he was the biggest client of HSH Nordbank which issued debt relief to his shipping company, Norddeutsche Reederei H Schuldt (NRS).
As one of the trailblazers of Germany’s tax-efficient KG schemes he will be remembered as part of a generation that helped build the German shipping industry into one of the world’s largest.
Kortum stood by his decisions and told TradeWinds in 2019, “I don’t’ regret anything.”
