South Korea’s cash-strapped Hanjin Shipping Co.is adrift at sea – and in more ways than one.
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Jensen says the ships anchored in or circling the high seas represent about half of Hanjin’s fleet.
Workers from port-related organizations in Busan city shout slogans during a rally to plead with the government and creditors of Hanjin Shipping Co.to map out measures to save the troubled shipper in front of the Hanjin group Chairman Cho Yang-ho’s office in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016.
The maker of electronic goods including Galaxy smartphones said the judge should issue an order barring the seizure of ships and allow it and other cargo owners to retrieve their goods by paying cargo handlers, who have been demanding payment guarantees.
Supporting Hanjin’s Chapter 15 US Bankruptcy Court petition, Samsung Electronics Co said in a court filing that about US$38 million of its goods were on board two Hanjin vessels off Long Beach, California.
Australia has adopted and legislated the Model Law in the Cross-Border Insolvency Act 2008 (Cth) and Australian courts have recognised a number of foreign shipping insolvencies over recent years, including some other Korean shipping receiverships.
Officials from the US Department of Commerce will meet with Korean counterparts to discuss measures against Hanjin Shipping’s fallout that has deal a blow to the US retailers, local news reported on September 9.
“This lack of a short term plan for these vessels will lead to mayhem”, it said in the filing.
During the course of researching an article examining Hanjin’s fall, most furniture vendors contacted by Furniture/Today declined comment on the situation.
Dozens of giant cargo ships have been drifting at sea around the world, stranding crews and billions of dollars worth of goods, after the financial collapse of the shipping company.
The U.S. judge, John Sherwood, will hear the request on Friday. The pier handles about one-third of the Port of Long Beach’s cargo.
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The ministry said that Hanjin accounts for about 3 percent of the global container shipping market, including 7.4 percent of the North and South American market and 4 percent of the European market. A $1,000 increase in freight rates in a single month could boost annual profits at major Japanese shippers by as much as 4 billion yen ($39 million), and shipping fees to the U.S. East Coast from Shanghai jumped $757 in the week to September 2, according to Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. The deposits would be refunded upon return of the empty container, but now no terminal is accepting empty Hanjin containers, according to the Hardwood Federation. Similar actions are pending at courts around the world, as well as the company’s main action seeking government receivership in its native country.
