Hanjin Shipping Crisis Hits Tech Giants

Company promises to pay $90M to resolve issues
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 7, 2016 3:48 PM CDT
Hanjin Shipping Crisis Hits Tech Giants
Container ship Hanjin Montevideo leaves the Hanjin Terminal in Long Beach, Calif., on Aug. 31.   (Stephen Carr/The Daily Breeze via AP)

Some 85 Hanjin ships carrying up to 24 crew members each are now stranded around 50 ports in 26 countries over fears the company can't pay port fees—and food and water supplies are dwindling, per Bloomberg. "Our ships can become ghost ships," says a rep for Hanjin’s labor union. At least $90 million is needed to allow ships to unload cargo after the South Korean shipping giant filed for bankruptcy protection last week; cargo handlers and others are refusing to unload the cargo over fears they won't get paid. Hanjin Group—a conglomerate including Hanjin Shipping and Korean Air—says it will supply that amount using $36 million from Chairman Cho Yang Ho's personal assets and $54 million borrowed using its stakes in overseas terminals as collateral, reports the Guardian.

Hanjin Shipping is seeking protection from creditors in several countries to prevent the seizure of assets and won a provisional ruling in the US on Tuesday, but it still isn't clear when all cargo will be unloaded. Samsung is one of several companies impatiently waiting, with $38 million in goods stuck on two ships off Long Beach, Calif. The company says it will incur "great costs" if it needs to fly in replacement goods to meet contract obligations, per Bloomberg. "All these costs and delays will be a loss not only to Samsung, but also to major retailers in the US and, ultimately, to US consumers," it says. HP also has "tens of millions of dollars" in product on Hanjin ships, reports the Wall Street Journal. (More shipping stories.)

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