Shipper Hapag-Lloyd may seek state aid - paper

FRANKFURT, July 3 (Reuters) - German container shipper Hapag-Lloyd (TUIGn.DE) is considering asking for state aid to help it secure its future in the face of a global trade slump, a key shareholder told a German newspaper on Friday.

Such a move could not be ruled out, and financial support from the German state would "certainly make sense", Klaus-Michael Kuehne told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He controls around 15 percent of the company.

"The German state should make sure that the German shipping fleet does not cease to exist," Kuehne said.

The group's operating loss widened in the second quarter from the 222 million euros ($313.2 million) posted in the first quarter, the paper said, without saying where it obtained the information.

Hapag-Lloyd has hired a management consultancy to help it examine different options to secure its future, it said on Wednesday. [ID:nWEA9203]

Sources close to Hapag-Lloyd financing talks have told Reuters that investor Albert Ballin is being asked to inject more capital into the company.

(Reporting by Peter Dinkloh; editing by John Stonestreet)