MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Korea's Hanjin Shipping, world's seventh largest, goes down
Hanjin Shipping used to be one of the world's top 10 shipping companies, but now it faces the final curtain. This Friday is the deadline for the firm to be declared bankrupt by a South Korean court after months of uncertainty. Hanjin's collapse is the largest to hit the shipping sector and it sent shockwaves through the industry. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesThe bigger they are, the harder and further they fall,
Feb 17th, 2017 - 08:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0the EU will soon join this list, the way they are going.
Briton - since when diod the EU operate a shipping line? You seem to be confused between mafritime commercial companies and your paranoid phobia for a political and economic grouping.
Feb 18th, 2017 - 10:16 am - Link - Report abuse 0Extrapolating your comment in line with the topic underdiscussion, you are inferring that the world's three largest shipping lines which are all European, Maersk, MSC and CMA-CGM, are all about to disappear in bankruptcy.
Before commenting on something you don't understand, please engage brain or refrain from comment.
As for the EU, don't forget that the Falklands have benefitted greatly from EU assistance and from support from the fishing lobby and protection of standards (veterinary, species and habitat, environmental) from Brussels. Hell, even the Seafood fair is located in Brussels!
It's a matter of survival of the fittest. Only the truly global carriers have the opportunity of compensating bad routes with better ones, to the contrary of smaller, niche carriers operating between regions where international trade has dropped off.
Feb 18th, 2017 - 08:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Denmarks O.P.Moeller-Maersk already dominates more than 20% of the world's maritime trade, a move which started with the purchase of Sealand's internation shipping division from CSX back in 1999, catapulting them to the world's number one container carrier, dislodging Evergreen Marine Corporation. Since then they've expanded steadily through inorganic growth, buying up, amongst others, P&O Nedlloyd and more recently Hamburg Sud. When carriers fold (like Hanjin has), or become takeover targets, one of the main concerns of those that remain, is the need to keep on growing, in order to avoid being swallowed by the competition.
RedBaron
Feb 18th, 2017 - 08:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0you have no sense of humour, it was tong in cheek,
perhaps your not in the mood today...
I've seen so many containers with that name on, it's hard to believe they have really gone bust. Are we going to end up with just one company having a monopoly eventually?
Feb 18th, 2017 - 11:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Jack- Not only to keep growing but to avoid making the mistakes of financial mismanagement made by the Korean carriers (remember Cho Yang....and HMM maybe heading in a similar direction), as well as to join forces in one of the dominant alliances (2M or THE Alliance). As Zim is now finding out, its tough to be an outsider when you want to participate in deep-sea trades. Zim may finally have to accept the inevitable even if this is politically difficult and, if relatively healthy lines such as OOCL and Hamburg Sud are appearing on the dinner table, the future of a polarised and rationalised liner shipping world will mean less choice for every shipper - Be careful what you wish for!
Feb 19th, 2017 - 12:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0@Red
Feb 19th, 2017 - 10:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Agree. I'm not too familiar with services operating in regions other than to/from South America's east coast, but around here I've seen plenty of joint-services being established in order to get through tough times.. Presume Cho Yang was/is another Korean carrier that is either going through hard times, or has already gone bankrupt . 2000 was a critical year for carriers operating between ECSA and USEC, Europe and the Far East, forcing them to join forces and to reduce capacity (by removing dozens of ships)...things improved drastically in 2004, with most carriers, not all, returning to independent operations.
Have a couple of good, longtime friends in Hamburg Sud Brazil, and they are kind of concerned about how Maersk is going to restructure....and, as you say, the same goes for shippers, who see their options narrowing.. Another of Maersk's advantages over most other global carriers is that they are also big in terminal operations, allowing them to profit on land as well as sea. It's sad to see lines disappear or be gobbled up, but with a slack world trade, seems almost inevitable.
Could buy the container ships cheaply, once it is bankrupt stock.
Feb 20th, 2017 - 08:44 am - Link - Report abuse 0golfcronie
Feb 22nd, 2017 - 10:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0Could buy the container ships cheaply, once it is bankrupt stock.'
Why would you when they are sending 9 year old panamax box boats to the knackers?
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!