Singapore-based crop shipper Agrocorp International said that DP World, the terminal operator at Port of Vancouver, last week held 24 containers – or 600 tonnes – of its Canadian lentils that were bound for India and Bangladesh, demanding a release fee of US$450 per container.
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Hanjin now has 43 ships en route to deliver goods and has “no idea when their cargo will be unloaded”, CEO of the maritime analysis outfit SeaIntel Lars Jensen said to the Journal.
“It is some 85 to 90 vessels, and they really are scattered all over the world”, he says.
The Montevideo appeared to have dropped anchor after it had already unloaded its cargo and was about to leave the port, Long Beach port spokesman Michael Gold said.
The tenuous financial situation of Hanjin Shipping – the world’s seventh-largest container shipping company, which accounts for almost 8 percent of America’s Pacific maritime trade volume – has made headlines for days as dozens of the outfit’s vessels sit stranded at sea.
So far, the company is not behind in its rent payments, the bureau said, adding that it would closely monitor the handling of containers at the port. He believes the actual amount of cargo is higher than that.
The company has been hurt by a slowdown in global trade.
About $14 billion worth of cargo is on Hanjin ships that can not operate normally following the firm’s filing for court receivership, according to the court. How long it will take the stranded vessels denied access to ports, with USA shippers cargo on board, to get cleared to dock is anyones guess.
“Without a doubt, it is a mess of an issue for the businesses themselves to be forced to untangle”.
“We’re passengers on a bus, and we’re being told we can’t get off”, a lawyer for Samsung was quoted as saying Tuesday.
In addition, there is fear that the ships or its contents maybe seized by the company’s numerous creditors.
Hanjin Shipping Co.’s container boxes are stacked five high at Busan port in Gyeongsang Province on September 9, 2016.
“They’re paying for their tractors while they’re not getting any work”, Kelly said. Now it’s cash, payable up front.
According to AP, Hanjin, the world’s seventh largest container shipper, said it had filed for creditor protection in dozens of countries, which would free vessels to land without being seized.
The shipping firm has sought bankruptcy protection after a plan to restructure its finances was rejected by its creditor banks on Tuesday last week. But it’s not clear who will pay to dock those ships – or unload them. And as long as I’m sitting on Hanjin’s containers, at least I have some collateral.
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“Shippers are working with other ocean freight partners to try to figure out ways to get their cargo onto other vessels”, Gold said.
