Hanjin gets US protection order to allow vessels into port to unload

The order was granted by US Bankruptcy Judge John Sherwood and would allow the Hanjin vessels to dock without fear of arrest by creditors. One of Hanjin’s vessels has already been arrested in US waters – the Hanjin Montevideo – but the order will effectively put a stay on those proceedings.

Reuters quoted Ilana Volkov, an attorney for Hanjin, as telling the US bankruptcy court that the company had at least $10m authorized by the Korean courts to allow four vessels off the US to come into port and unload their cargoes.
One of the four vessels, the Hanjin Greece, was scheduled to berth in the Port of Long Beach on Saturday morning having been idling off Mexico.

Longer-term questions such as what happens to the vessels once they have been unloaded and to the empty containers remain unanswered. Some KRW100bn ($90.6m) in emergency funding pledged by parent Hanjin Group and its chairman falls far short of the KRW600bn of unpaid obligations owed by the shipping line, and will merely allow its vessels to be unloaded at various ports around the world.

Read all the background to the Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy on our timeline

Meanwhile Reederei NSB, which manages seven Hanjin vessels said one of the ships had been arrested in Vancouver.

It said that the seven vessels were waiting in position at anchorages in various ports and the crew were “well cared for” and being paid regularly.