It’s one of the largest ocean carriers in the world. Shipments through Hanjin account for between 15 percent and 20 percent of LG’s deliveries to America. TVs, cars and sneakers sail about 10 days to reach Los Angeles from Asia, while they could take as many as 30 days to Rotterdam. The bankruptcy of Hanjin has sent shock waves through the container shipping industry. “This is going to play out for the next few weeks”.
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“It is very hard to predict such company failures, especially with governments frequently asked to bail out failing firms, and they often do so”, Tan added. “We need all parties to work together to find solutions to move this cargo so it does not have a broader impact on the economy”.
“Unless someone steps in very quickly – and there is no sign of that – this will last a very long time”, according to Mr Jensen.
Nate Herman, senior vice president of supply chain at the American Apparel & Footwear Association in Washington, D.C., said he is trying to get as much information out to AAFA members to help resolve the situation.
Target Corp. said it is watching the situation closely and Wal-Mart said it is waiting for details about Hanjin’s bankruptcy proceedings and the implications to its merchandise before it could assess the effect.
With the receivership application accepted, the shipper got a chance to revive itself, but it is still unclear whether it can avert liquidation.
“The government will swiftly push forth corporate restructuring following the rule that companies must figure out how to survive and find competitiveness on their own while taking responsibility”, Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said.
In Prince Rupert, Canada, Port Technology reported that a Hanjin ship was stranded at the terminal, with cargo operations halted. That adds to one other ship seized in Singapore by a creditor earlier in the week.
LG was seeking alternatives among other shippers including, Hyundai Merchant Marine, South Korea’s second-largest container line.
Hanjin’s shares, suspended since plunging 24 percent on Tuesday, will resume trading on September 5, the stock exchange said. Trading in its shares were suspended after a 24 percent plunge Tuesday to their lowest level since December 2009.
The Wall Street Journal also noted that Hanjin accounts for almost 8 percent of all trans-Pacific trade volume for the US market.
Hanjin, the world’s seventh-largest container shipper, represents almost 8 percent of the trans-Pacific trade volume for the US market and the bankruptcy is having “a ripple effect throughout the global supply chain” that could cause significant harm to both consumers and the USA economy, the association wrote.
“It impacts Canadian importers and exporters because if I have a container on that vessel I can’t get it”, she said.
The PPA said there are about 100 boxes for export pending at the South Harbor to be handled by Hanjin, but the cargo owners could transfer it to other shipping lines.
That means that a lot of the goods en route to the United States are geared at the busy year-end holidays and any disruption will be a major headache for the companies that have entrusted their products into the hauls of the Hanjin freighters. Meanwhile, three of its ships that were scheduled to berth at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have been drifting nearby, unable to call at the US West Coast hubs.
SEVERAL hundred Filipino seafarers stand to lose their jobs after the troubled South Korean shipping giant Hanjin filed for court receivership on Wednesday, putting the future of the world’s seventh-largest carrier and its 5,000 employees in serious doubt.
Hanjin is part of an alliance of six shipping companies, which complicates the problem even further, according to the Wall Street Journal.
To many South Koreans, Hanjin’s woes are typical of the difficulties chaebol are facing as offspring of the founding generation fumble in their attempts to keep control of their fathers’ and grandfathers’ business empires.
Roughly half of Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd’s container vessels have been blocked from ports since the South Korean firm’s collapse, putting manufacturers and their customers increasingly on edge about the fate of cargo and spikes in freight costs.
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The younger Cho took over management of Hanjin Shipping two years ago from Choi Eun-Young, the widow of his younger brother Cho Soo-Ho, who ran the shipping firm until his death in 2006. The group, which also counts airport services, logistics and mineral water among its businesses, is headed by Chairman Cho Yang Ho.
