5 Hanjin ships held in Chinese limbo! Nowhere to go and nothing to do
HANJIN Shipping has posted a document on its website stating that five of its containerships are being held off Chinese ports as of September 26.
Three of these ships are categorised as "arrested", as the vessels were detained under court orders, Hanjin told Lloyd's List. They are the 4,253-TEU Hanjin Dusseldorf, the 9,000-TEU Hanjin Sooho at the port of Ningbo, and the 6,100-TEU Hanjin Rotterdam at the port of Yantian.
Another two ships are categorised as "vessel departure/arrival not available", referring to vessels held by ports or terminal operators without court orders, the spokesperson added. These two are 4,300-TEU Hanjin Kingston at Ningbo and the 3,560-TEU Hanjin Turkey at Xingang.
A further two ships - then 13,092-TEU Hanjin Green Earth and 2,900-TEU Hanjin Piraeus - were 'under way' to Shanghai. The Hanjin Green Earth was scheduled to arrive in Shanghai at 1000 hrs on Tuesday, but Lloyd's List Intelligence data showed the ship did not enter the port but was anchored offshore near Shanghai. Hanjin Piraeus, currently sailing in the India Ocean, is due to call at Shanghai on October 3.
Hanjin said the company is trying to arrange for the two vessels to return to Busan - one of its designated "safe haven ports" - as they cannot obtain China's approval for the injunction against attachment of assets obtained in its native South Korea earlier this month.
So far, Hanjin has secured nine 'safe haven' ports outside of Korea - Singapore, Hamburg, Long Beach, Algeciras, Valencia, Oakland, New York, Seattle and Manzanillo - where its ships can safely unload their cargoes without fear of arrest by creditors.
But China remains an 'unfriendly' location, as the jurisdiction does not support automatic recognition of overseas insolvency proceedings; neither does it provide other avenues like in the US, where foreign companies such as Hanjin can apply for Chapter 15, according to Sloma & Co partner Zhou Qi.
HANJIN Shipping has posted a document on its website stating that five of its containerships are being held off Chinese ports as of September 26.
Three of these ships are categorised as "arrested", as the vessels were detained under court orders, Hanjin told Lloyd's List. They are the 4,253-TEU Hanjin Dusseldorf, the 9,000-TEU Hanjin Sooho at the port of Ningbo, and the 6,100-TEU Hanjin Rotterdam at the port of Yantian.
Another two ships are categorised as "vessel departure/arrival not available", referring to vessels held by ports or terminal operators without court orders, the spokesperson added. These two are 4,300-TEU Hanjin Kingston at Ningbo and the 3,560-TEU Hanjin Turkey at Xingang.
A further two ships - then 13,092-TEU Hanjin Green Earth and 2,900-TEU Hanjin Piraeus - were 'under way' to Shanghai. The Hanjin Green Earth was scheduled to arrive in Shanghai at 1000 hrs on Tuesday, but Lloyd's List Intelligence data showed the ship did not enter the port but was anchored offshore near Shanghai. Hanjin Piraeus, currently sailing in the India Ocean, is due to call at Shanghai on October 3.
Hanjin said the company is trying to arrange for the two vessels to return to Busan - one of its designated "safe haven ports" - as they cannot obtain China's approval for the injunction against attachment of assets obtained in its native South Korea earlier this month.
So far, Hanjin has secured nine 'safe haven' ports outside of Korea - Singapore, Hamburg, Long Beach, Algeciras, Valencia, Oakland, New York, Seattle and Manzanillo - where its ships can safely unload their cargoes without fear of arrest by creditors.
But China remains an 'unfriendly' location, as the jurisdiction does not support automatic recognition of overseas insolvency proceedings; neither does it provide other avenues like in the US, where foreign companies such as Hanjin can apply for Chapter 15, according to Sloma & Co partner Zhou Qi.