South Korea

All Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd chartered vessels that have completed unloading their cargo have been told to cancel their charter agreements and return the ships to the shipowners, a South Korean judge said on Monday. Hanjin, the world's seventh-largest container line, filed for receivership last month, leaving more than 100 ships and their cargo at sea and threatening to snarl U.S. freight traffic as the year-end shopping season approaches. Dozens of Hanjin's ships have been blocked from docking with ports and lashing firms fearing they won't be paid.

South Korea's Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd, whose collapse has disrupted global trade, is considering a restructuring plan to sell more than half its ships, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. However, liquidation remained the most likely outcome for Hanjin Shipping, the newspaper cited the sources as saying. Hanjin Shipping, the world's seventh-largest container carrier, filed for receivership late last month in a South Korean court and must submit a rehabilitation plan in December.

In a related story, the Yonhap News Agency reported that Korean Air Lines Co., the largest shareholder of the cash-strapped Hanjin Shipping, was unable to decide on Sunday how to provide funding for the nation's leading container shipping line. An official at Korean Air said the company convened an emergency board of directors meeting Sunday to discuss its plan to offer Hanjin Shipping 60 billion won (US$53.3 million) and help ease the cargo crisis triggered by Hanjin's receivership. The meeting was scheduled at the last minute, the official added.

The Hanjin Shipping Company filed for bankruptcy in South Korea on Aug. 31, and sought recognition of that bankruptcy in the United States under Chapter 15 of the bankruptcy code, which governs such matters. In the meantime, there has been apparent chaos as ships have been milling about off shore, stranding cargo and crew and even a filmmaker in a kind of insolvency limbo, the International New York Times DealBook blog reported. Perhaps what is most surprising about this entire event is the apparent lack of planning that went into this bankruptcy case.

The chairman of Hanjin Group transferred 40 billion won ($36 million) to Hanjin Shipping on Tuesday to help unload cargo stranded on the troubled shipper's vessels, a spokesman said, but regulators warned securing further funds could take "considerable time". Hanjin Group, the parent of Hanjin Shipping, pledged last week to raise 100 billion won to help rescue cargo in the wake of the collapse of the world's seventh-biggest container shipper, including the 40 billion won from Chairman Cho Yang-ho.

A key member of South Korea’s Hanjin Group agreed Saturday to a conditional bailout of the group’s shipping unit, whose collapse has sparked turmoil worldwide on the high seas. The board of group unit Korean Air, meeting for the third straight day, decided to lend 60 billion won ($55 million) to Hanjin Shipping, two thirds of whose cargo fleet is marooned at sea due to huge debts, Gulf News Shipping reported. “The board members decided to provide the loan but only in exchange for collateral (from Hanjin Shipping),” a company spokeswoman told AFP.

A South Korean court presiding over the rehabilitation process of Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd has asked the firm's lead creditor for fresh funds, warning the troubled container shipper needs financial support this week to normalize operations, Reuters reported. The court did not say how much it had requested from lead creditor Korea Development Bank and government ministries.

South Korea’s Hanjin Group will put up 100 billion won ($90 million) to help Hanjin Shipping Co., as the troubled shipping affiliate struggles to get its stalled supply chain moving globally, The Wall Street Journal reported. The parent of the country’s largest container operator, and the world’s seventh-largest by capacity, will raise 60 billion won, using its stake in a terminal at Port of Long Beach in California and other assets as collateral, the group said Tuesday. The remaining 40 billion won will come from Chairman Cho Yang-ho’s personal wealth.

South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping Co. is taking further legal action in countries beyond the U.S. for protection of its assets as it works to get a frozen supply chain moving again, with more than half its vessels stranded in ports world-wide and at sea, The Wall Street Journal reported. Hanjin plans to file for court protection in about 10 countries, including Canada, Germany and the U.K., this week and later expand that to 43 jurisdictions to protect its ships and other assets from being seized by creditors, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission said Monday.

Hyundai Merchant Marine Co Ltd is in talks with South Korean firms such as home appliance makers Samsung and LG to carry their cargo, the chairman of South Korea's Financial Services Commission told reporters on Monday. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Electronics Inc have been customers of Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd , a Hanjin spokeswoman previously told Reuters. Shares in Hanjin Shipping slumped by the daily limit of 30 percent in resumed trade on Monday as the South Korean shipping firm struggles to contain the fallout of its collapse.