Blame Game
Hanjin Shipping and the South Korean government are playing the blame game to help unload cargo stranded on Hanjin ships.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey granted a stay order on September 9 (local time) to prevent creditors from seizing Hanjin Shipping’s ships or property.
The problem is no one can provide definite answers about how much unloading costs will be and who will bear all the costs, which are the major issues to address the logistics crisis.
First, it is important to know how much Hanjin Shipping needs to unload goods. The court estimates that the company needs 170 billion won (US$152.19 million) to cover the cost of unloading the remaining vessels. However, some shipping industry sources and creditors say that 100 billion won (US$89.53 million) will be enough, while others say that it will take more than 300 billion won (US$268.58 million).
An official from creditors said, “Since unloading charges can vary according to negotiations, it is hard to calculate the total amount by simply adding costs per container box. When rumors that Hanjin Shipping has secured a large amount of cash, unloading costs can rather increase.”
In addition, there is a possibility that owners of goods, who should suffer extreme losses from delivery delays, will unload goods while paying for the costs. In this case, the unloading costs will reduce as a result. In fact, Samsung Electronics asked a U.S. judge to let it pay cargo handlers to remove its goods from Hanjin Shipping's vessels stationed near Long Beach Total Terminals International (TTI).
The question is whether the government will pay for the unloading charges if Hanjin Group is short of money. The group announced earlier that it would provide 100 billion won (US$89.53 million) to Hanjin Shipping but it can provide just 40 billion won (US$35.81 million) from Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho at the moment due to opposition by outside directors of Korean Airlines.