Hanjin Shipping to sell Asia-US route assets as part of bankruptcy proceedings

The South Korean court overseeing troubled Hanjin Shipping Co's bankruptcy proceedings today said that it plans to sell the company's Asia-US route assets as early as tomorrow.

Hanjin Shipping, whose shares had  fallen by about 34 per cent since late August, surged by 14 per cent on news of the asset sale.

Hanjin Shipping, the country's biggest shipping company, had filed for bankruptcy protection in late August and the Seoul Central District Court had ordered to sell its own ships and give back chartered ships to their owners in order to pay back creditors.

The Seoul-based company has a total 97 container ships and bulk carriers, of which 37 are company owned and 60 are chartered, and transports over 100 million tonne of cargo annually.

According to the court filing, Hanjin Shipping had total debt of 6.03 trillion won ($5.41 billion) as of end-June.

The assets up for sale include its manpower and operating systems for Hanjin Shipping's US-Asia routes, five container ships, seven overseas businesses and logistics operation systems.

The company said in a filing that the Court has given 7 November deadline to interested parties to place their bids, but did not say what price it is expecting or who would be the likely bidders for the assets.

After filing for bankruptcy protection on 31 August, many ports had refused to handle its cargo and ships; a terminal in India and a port in the US had last month declined to berth Hanjin vessels over fears over payment of docking fees, container-storage and unloading bills.

Early last month, 45 of its ships had been stranded at sea because some ports denied them berthing, forcing them to anchor in international waters, while several others feared that creditors would seize the ships.