Turmoil has hit financial markets around the world, but amid the gloom there have been some bright spots. Germany last month saw the successful stock market debut of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik, one of Europe’s leading container ports. The heavily oversubscribed initial public offering – the second-biggest in Germany this year – highlighted investors’ continuing faith in Germany’s export industry, the mainstay of the country’s economic revival over the past few years.

On a trade-weighted basis, Germany’s industrial renaissance appears intact – exports rose by 3.1 per cent in the third quarter – raising hopes that Europe’s largest economy might prove as sturdy in the face of the global economic storms as the massive freight ships leaving its northern seaports.