The courts’ protection permits Hanjin ships to move in and out of terminals in those countries without fear of its assets being seized by creditors.
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He also said more than 20 alternative vessels will be mobilized on routes to North America, Europe and Southeast Asia starting late this week.
The Hanjin Shipping news probably won’t help Japanese shippers much in the longer run, and their debt spreads are shrinking more as a result of the Bank of Japan pushing interest rates below zero, according to Hidetoshi Ohashi, the chief credit strategist at Mizuho Securities Co.in Tokyo.
One of the ships, the Hanjin Boston, is scheduled to head into the port on Friday afternoon for re-fueling.
“September is the peak season” for shipping before seasonal holidays, said Seigo Ando, a senior analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. According to Hanjin Group on Friday, the airliner convened a board meeting to approve the proposal for extending 60 billion won to Hanjin Shipping that has been placed under court administration, but failed to come to a decision. “Food and water are running down in those ships floating in worldwide waters”.
Recently, South Korean authorities rushed to piece together a capital injection. A favourable ruling from a USA bankruptcy court this week protected Hanjin’s assets in the United States against creditors, while the shipping line proceeds with its reorganisation in South Korea.
Fortunately for HP, U.S. bankruptcy judge John Sherwood on Tuesday granted Hanjin temporary protection from its creditors, to allow its ships to dock and offload.
Meanwhile Reederei NSB, which manages seven Hanjin vessels said one of the ships had been arrested in Vancouver. There should be measures to secure the safety of sailors, he said, adding they don’t know how long they should wait at sea.
Hanjin, Yang Ming and Evergreen are members of the CKYHE Alliance, which consists of Cosco Container Lines, “K” Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin and Evergreen.
“This will probably take months to resolve”, Cordero said. Such a vessel uses 80 – 95 tons of oil per day at a speed of 17 knots. The Seoul Central District Court is presiding over the receivership filed by Hanjin last week.
Hanjin has applied for Chapter 15 protection in the USA, which is likely to be granted following a hearing scheduled for 6 September 2016.
A bankrupt shipping company will be able to pay workers to unload goods from some US bound ships, potentially providing some relief to retailers whose products were stuck in limbo mere weeks before the holiday shopping season.
In the first seven months of this year, 1.8 per cent of Thailand’s exports was destined to South Korea.
Hanjin, the largest South Korean shipping company, has seen its financial woes deepen since the 2008 global financial crisis.
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Not surprisingly, freight rates from South Korea to the US jumped immediately upon Hanjins bankruptcy. From A.P. Moeller-Maersk to Hapag-Lloyd and France’s CMA CGM, companies have tried everything – mergers, acquisitions and cost cuts – while a revival in demand remains elusive. Many ships carry only a limited supply of low-sulfur fuel. Because of these and other factors, there are concerns that the 100 billion won (US$91.4 million) cash infusion promised by the Hanjin Group will not be adequate.
