South Korean Court to Liquidate Hanjin Shipping
The Seoul Central District Court Thursday decided to end the bankruptcy protection of Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd (Hanjin Shipping), leaving the company to succumb to a declaration of bankruptcy later this month, Yonhap reported.
Hanjin, once the world's seventh- or eighth-largest container shipper, filed for court receivership in late August 2016 as its creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), said they would not provide additional financial support to Hanjin starting from September 4.
“Now that the sale of Hanjin’s major assets is almost over, the time has come to declare its final fate,” WSJ quoted Choi Ung-young, a judge on the Seoul court as saying.
Choi said the shipping line has hardly any value as a going concern and that the court will likely rule on Feb. 17 that the company will be liquidated if creditors don’t file objections.
The bankruptcy proceedings are able to move forward because the court managed to sell off Hanjin's stake in a U.S. terminal.
In an effort to collect enough cash to pay back its creditors, the company opted to sell a number of its assets, including its entire Asia to US route network and operations on the routes, a number of containerships, as well as its overseas businesses.
The collapse of Hanjin Shipping comes 40 years since its founding. After it was established in 1977, it grew into one of the world's top 10 container carriers in terms of capacity, operating about 60 regular lines worldwide.