All 141 ships operated by Hanjin Shipping when it went into receivership have discharged their cargoes, South Korea's Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) has announced.
The vessels comprise 97 container ships and 44 bulk carriers and tankers. Hanjin Shipping's descent into receivership caused logistical chaos worldwide as the company scrambled to secure stay orders in various jurisdictions to prevent creditors from arresting its ships.
The last loaded ship, Hanjin Vienna, which was arrested by Saam Smit Canada in Constance Bay, Canada, had its containers offloaded on 27 November, said the MOF. The boxes were transferred to another ship, Hanjin Seattle, which is sailing towards China and South Korea.
The MOF formed a task force to expedite the discharging of cargoes from Hanjin Shipping's stranded ships and to safeguard the welfare of their crews. Assistance was also provided to affected shippers and freight forwarders. The ministry estimated that KRW383.7 billion (USD327 million) was disbursed to 694 applications over expired contracts during logistical disruption.
To plug the gap, other South Korean lines, especially Hyundai Merchant Marine, deployed 11 ships to collect cargoes meant for Hanjin Shipping's routes.
Forty-six of the 61 ships (37 container ships and 24 bulk carriers) under Hanjin Shipping's management were supplied with 75 items of daily necessities. The 649 seafarers (255 South Koreans and 394 foreigners) from the ships Hanjin Shipping has redelivered to its tonnage providers have also been informed they may return to their countries.
The MOF said that follow-up measures will continue, especially for handling Hanjin Shipping's cargo contracts and re-employing seafarers as the company's operations remain at a standstill.
It is estimated that 39.9 million teu of cargoes were contracted with Hanjin Shipping.
Once South Korea's largest shipping line, Hanjin Shipping collapsed after incurring over USD5 billion of debt and losing its banks' support. The company is expected to produce a rehabilitation plan by 3 February 2017, although liquidation is very likely, given its massive debt and the monumental effort restarting its operations would require. Hanjin Shipping's intra-Asia and Asia-US container shipping businesses have been sold to Korea Line Corporation at the courts' orders.
Source IHS
Topic: Hanjin's 141 ships all now offloaded (Read 3972 times)