COVER STORY
10 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com SEPTEMBER 19.2016
THE TIMING COULD hardly be worse.
With the trans-Pacifi c and Asia-Europe
peak season fi ring up as North Ameri-
can and European retailers stock up
for the holiday shopping season, the
seventh-largest container line goes bust,
stranding thousands of containers and
sending spot rates rocketing.
Hanjin Shipping's Aug. 31 bank-
ruptcy fi ling in South Korea affects not
only its customers, but also those of its
CKYHE Alliance members whose cargo
is on its ships and other carriers that
have slot-sharing agreements with the
South Korean ocean carrier. As many
as 540,000 20-foot-equivalent con-
tainer units alone were fl oating around
on Hanjin vessels as of the fi rst week
in September, the Korea Ministry of
Oceans and Fisheries estimates.
The biggest failure in container
shipping history leaves supply
chains in shambles and has
shippers all over the globe asking,
"What now?"
JOC STAFF REPORT
