Tui AG, German owner of British package tour group Tui Travel, posted big losses today over debts to the stricken Hapag-Lloyd container shipping firm.

The tours giant lost €537 million after loans to Hapag-Lloyd went bad.

The shipping firm, hit by the dramatic slowdown in world trade, will present a report to Berlin on Friday seeking billion-euro loan guarantees while warning of cuts in jobs and salaries.

TUI sold part of its stake at the end of last year to a consortium of the City of Hamburg, local businesspeople and banks, but ended up still owning 43% of the firm. At the same time, it burdened the shipping company with €1.3 billion in debt.

“Without outside help, we won't make it,” said a company insider.

Shipping line operators alone are expected to suffer combined losses of £16 billion this year, with Drewry Shipping Consultants warning: “The industry is looking at the edge of a deep abyss.”

Roughly 1,644 of the 4,619 container ships worldwide are German-owned. Because of a collapse in world trade they now set sail sometimes only half full – if they sail at all.