What better a domestic market could a container shipping company possibly dream of, particularly one that remains an unofficial national carrier?

Yet sources inside Hapag-Lloyd say that the world’s sixth-largest box line could go bust in a matter of weeks unless a financial rescue is forthcoming. That alone shows the extent to which shipping is hurting in the global economic downturn.

If the money is forthcoming from shareholders, all well and good. That is the correct and consistent free market course of action. There are reports of talks with state-controlled bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau. If any subsequent loan is, more or less, on commercial terms, fine.

But the line must surely be drawn at direct federal or state government intervention. Given the business culture prevailing in Germany, there is little doubt that Hapag-Lloyd’s supplications would be heard with favour. That would be both unfair and economically inefficient.

Shipping is one of the closest approximations there is to textbook perfect competition, and no individual company is too big to fail. The age of national champions is well over; the UK long ago learned to trade without owning a single container carrier of any size.

If Hapag-Lloyd cannot make a go of serving the requirements of what is still the powerhouse of the eurozone, rivals capable of supporting themselves without resort to the taxpayer should be given that opportunity.