New | Korea’s Hanjin Shipping gets US court order and cash to unload stranded vessels

A US judge said on Friday he will grant Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd provisional protection from creditors in the United States, enabling some vessels to dock and unload at US ports.

South Korea’s Hanjin asked US Bankruptcy Judge John Sherwood to issue an order that would prevent creditors from seizing Hanjin ships or property, and allow cargo owners to make arrangements to retrieve goods stranded in warehouses. Sherwood said he would sign the order later on Friday.

Earlier, the company received authority to spend the money needed to dock at US ports and begin unloading four vessels that have been stranded at sea by the company’s failure last week, a company lawyer told a US court on Friday.

“We have the money,” said Ilana Volkov, an attorney for Hanjin, told a US Bankruptcy Court hearing in Newark, New Jersey on Friday. “We want to call these ports and say, please accept our ships and we want to pay for the services to work the ships.”

Volkov said at least US$10 million was authorised by a Korean court to begin servicing the four ships. Hanjin identified 14 US-bound ships in court papers, but Volkov said she did not have information about the other vessels.