Logistics News

Hyundai Merchant Marine to assess Hanjin fleet

Container handling issues in Australia as Hanjin's rehabilitation plan looks grim

 

Hanjin Shipping could be heading towards liquidation following weeks of chaos after it filed for bankruptcy protection late last month.

Hyundai Merchant Marine (HHM), South Korean’s second largest shipping line, is believed to be looking into buying Hanjin’s 37 container vessels.

Media reports suggest that HHM will be able to pick and choose Hanjin’s ships, particularly its five 13,000 TEU container ships.

However, it is not certain that the Korean peer, which is battling financial difficulties of its own with a reported Won5.2 trillion (A$6.2 billion) debt, will be able to buy the ships that are estimated to go for US$90 million (A$118 million) each.

The South Korean government and Korea Development Bank (KDB), Hanjin’s biggest creditor, are believed to support HMM if the firm decided to acquire Hanjin assests.

The government and creditors have already stated they will not inject any more funds except the promised money to release the containers stranded aboard Hanjin fleet across the world.

The international containerline is due to submit a rehabilitation plan to a South Korean court by December this year.

Meanwhile, Hanjin’s wave of misfortune has reached Australian shores as local ports experience container handling issues.

The Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA) states that dehiring Hanjin’s empty containers is becoming increasingly difficult, with a vast majority of the Hanjin-designated empty container depots around Australia having stopped accepting Hanjin returns owing to operational and commercial reasons.

CTAA reports that as many as 13 container depots across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle have ceased to accept Hanjin returns citing space-related issues and/or concerns about payment.

“This leaves importers and their container transport operators with the mounting problem of not being able to dehire Hanjin containers, which now continue to mount up in yards and elsewhere causing congestion and operational difficulties,” CTAA states.

With tonnes of cargo still trapped on board Hanjin ships, Australia’s Freight and Trade Alliance (FTA) executive director Paul Zalai​ says importers are missing contractual obligations with retailers for the pre-Christmas period.

“For the lucky ones they are paying additional costs with direct stevedore payments to unload and deliver goods,” Zalai​ says.

“Unlucky ones still have cargo stranded on ships outside Australian ports as Hanjin is avoiding arrest of their vessels should they come into berth.”

Last week, creditors seized one of its vessels, the Hanjin California, at the Sydney Harbour.

This led the company to order its other vessel, the Hanjin Milano, to drop anchor outside the heads to avoid the fate of the Hanjin California.

On Friday, the Federal Court of Australia ordered the ship to dock at the Port of Melbourne without being arrested, however, the vessel has not come to berth yet and remains stranded in the Bass Strait.

The stranded crew is thought to have around two weeks of food supplies.

“The majority of our exports are carried on liner services and we all recognise that these events and the current pains shipping lines are experiencing are of major concern to Australia’s exporters,” Australian Peak Shippers Association chairman Robert Coode says.

South Korea deputy prime minister for economic affairs Yoo Il-ho says he expects up to 90 per cent of Hanjin’s total containers to be unloaded by the end of October.

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