Stranded Hanjin Shipping vessels may soon start moving again after its parent company pledged $90 million Tuesday, but the company’s future at the Port of Long Beach may be in question.
Tuesday night, Sept. 6, the Port of Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has scheduled a special meeting at 6 p.m. “to discuss price and terms of payment for the Pier T Container Terminal,” according to the meeting agenda. The negotiating party listed on the agenda is Total Terminals International, LLC, which owns the Pier T lease and in which Hanjin Shipping Co. has majority ownership.
The meeting is closed to the public because it involves real estate negotiations.
Port spokesman Lee Peterson said the discussion involved the Pier T lease but said he couldn’t elaborate further on the meeting.
However, “TTI is current in all of its payments to us,” Peterson said.
That hasn’t been the case for most Hanjin-affiliated operations.
Since declaring bankruptcy last week, filing for court receivership in South Korea, Hanjin ships across the world have either been seized by governments or left stuck at sea unable to pay docking fees, and the company has effectively ceased to operate.
Three ships were still stopped at the Port of Long Beach on Tuesday, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California. One of these ships could be seen anchored just off the Long Beach coastline inside the breakwater over the weekend, with cargo containers still stacked high waiting to be offloaded.
Soon, the ships could get moving again, after parent company Hanjin Group reportedly announced it will pay $90 million to fix the cargo disruptions that have slowed trade around the world. Hanjin Shipping is the seventh-largest carrier in the world, accounting for about 3 percent of all container cargo.
The Associated Press reported that of 141 vessels operated by Hanjin, as of Sunday 68 weren’t operating normally, were stranded or had been seized.