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The
sale comes as creditors line up claims less than two months
after the company applied for court receivership as the first
major shipping line to be dragged down by global industry
overcapacity and comparatively low freight rates. The firm had
total debt of 6.03 trillion won ($5.41 billion) as of the end of
June, according to its court filing.
Hanjin Shipping received court approval to seek buyers for
assets in order to pay back creditors now in the process of
making claims until Oct. 25. Its container ship capacity had
shrunk to 17th place in global rankings as of Oct. 9, according
to shipping data provider Alphaliner.
A spokesman for the Seoul Central District Court overseeing
Hanjin Shipping's receivership said assets currently set to be
put up for sale include the entire operations of Hanjin
Shipping's U.S. to Asia routes such as manpower systems, five
container ships, and 10 overseas businesses.
He declined to comment on the potential price or interested
parties for the assets.
The Port of Long Beach said Wednesday that container volumes in
September fell 16.6 percent from a year ago, as the effects of
the Hanjin bankruptcy reached West Coast ports.
Hanjin Shipping accounted for approximately 12.3 percent of the
port’s total containerised volume, it said.
A spokesman for shipper Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM)
<011200.KS> declined to comment on whether it is interested in
any of the assets to be sold until HMM has reviewed the assets
on the block.
Hanjin Shipping shares closed up 30 percent on hopes for the
asset sales. Until Wednesday, the stock had tumbled about 34
percent since late August.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in
SEOUL and Keith Wallis in SINGAPORE; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell
and Christian Schmollinger)
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