[THE INVESTOR] Five ships operated by Hanjin Shipping have been seized after the shipping company was put under court receivership in September, industry sources said on Nov. 4.

According to the sources, the Hanjin China cargo ship was seized in Shanghai on Nov. 3 after unloading its cargo, as Hanjin Shipping failed to pay its terminal service fee estimated at 1 billion won (US$875,000). The ship had planned to return to Busan.

Consequently, a total of five Hanjin ships have been seized, as the embattled shipper has failed to meet payments. The other four were seized in Singapore in August, in Canada in September and in South Korea in October.

Hanjin Shipping was put under court receivership in early September as its creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank, rejected its last self-rescue package worth 500 billion won (US$440 million), which fell short of the 700 billion won demanded.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)