Hanjin Shipping quietly collapses

Hanjin Shipping based out of South Korea, the seventh largest shipping company in the world quietly collapsed last week. There are currently 100 ships, with 2,500 crew and approximately 540,000 shipping containers with $14B in cargo have been left in limbo.

Ships in Port are being held until fees are paid. Ships at sea aren't being allowed in to ports because fees won't be paid, and companies that haul their containers from Port won't get paid for the loads.

This is going to cause a major ripple effect. Container rates between China and California have already jumped 50%. Rail in the US is refusing to accept their trailers. They're seeking bankruptcy protection and have a hearing scheduled for tomorrow in US bankruptcy court.

landlinemedia.blogspot.com...

Wow. HUGE company. I've seen their containers daily even in Ontario. 10-1 this will affect the consumer.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Hm. Any competitors likely to take over?

a reply to: intrepid

This is going to hurt. I expect to see prices go up within the next couple weeks.

a reply to: swanne

There are a couple that may. But with less competition rates will jump. And guess who gets hit with that.

This is bad news for a lot of people. I know a fellow trucker who wasn't able to take his empty anywhere and another one who said his company is just sitting on some loaded containers until they get paid. I'd hate to be in intermodal right now. I can't imagine how many truckers looking for jobs now.

Sounds like a nice opportunity for a stock buy, not them, but their competitors will see a nice bump from this and the rate increase.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Right. Good point.

originally posted by: MisterSpock
Sounds like a nice opportunity for a stock buy, not them, but their competitors will see a nice bump from this and the rate increase.

Word on the interstate is South Korea will bail them out.

a reply to: Zaphod58

WOW!

Far as I know this is unprecedented, did a little more reading and it seems there is a glut of shipping companies & underutilized shipping capacity?

I have stated this a few times in a few threads but I had inklings about 6-7 months ago that the shipping industry on the whole was slow. I have a very good friend in the UK that works in container movement and another in South East Asia and both are really struggling as their is just not enough business to go around. Agencies are also being taken to court as there are a number of shipping compaines based in the Middle East that have not paid crews salaries for the last 8 months, I know a number of Filipino crew members that are owed thousands of dollars and they keep getting told the shipping companies are about to go under??!.

This type of thing a few years ago was unheard of but now is common place..




RA

Wow. Who's next, Maersk?

a reply to: Caver78

Companies are finding better ways to move their goods. Amazon started contacting out their own trailers last year, and signed a contract with Atlas Air to operate their own aircraft to haul their freight.

So what happens to all the goods sitting in the containers?

I wonder how this could affect holiday sales and pricing as we approach that season.

Interesting event, nonetheless.

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

That depends on what happens. They could work out some kind of deal that allows someone else to transport it, or the court could give them protection that allows them to get the goods where they need to go.

a reply to: introvert

Most of the freight in those containers appears to be holiday goods, so we should find out pretty quickly.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: introvert

Most of the freight in those containers appears to be holiday goods, so we should find out pretty quickly.

Oh, I did not know that.

Thanks for the info. I hope you update the thread as more info comes in.

With China building its high speed rail to the EU the ability for other types of logistics would not be able to compete .If this century is going to belong to Asia and China is re-working their production lines to better fit the next century ,this may be playing out now . I am thinking of future contracts that may not be re-signed .

It looks like Santa will be coming up short this year. The $24 billion toy industry is taking a huge hit. Trade groups are already calling for US intervention and as much transparency from the South Korean government as possible. Retail companies are attempting to shift all blame from themselves and are asking the government to bail them out at our expense. If one does not subscribe to the consumer lifestyle, you should be fine. That bailout however can be recouped in all sorts of interesting and creative ways.

...not even this extreme forecast captured what would happen just 48 hours later, when as the WSJ reported overnight, retailers have gone far beyond simply blaming the Hanjing bankruptcy for their upcoming woes: they are petitioning for a government bailout, or as the WSJ put it, they are "bracing for a blow as they stock up for the crucial holiday sales season, asked the government to step in and help resolve a growing crisis."